Plants having enhanced yield-related traits and a method for making the same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for enhancing plant yield-related traits relative to control plants. More specifically, the present invention concerns a method for enhancing yield related traits in plants relative to control plants, by modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX); or by modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide in a plant. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated, preferably increased, expression in the roots, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX, or having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide, which plants have enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants. The invention also provides constructs useful in the methods of the invention.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of patent application Ser. No. 12/601,023 filed Nov. 20, 2009, which is a national stage application (under 35 U.S.C. §371) of PCT/EP2008/056381, filed May 23, 2008, which claims benefit of European Application 07108768.8, filed May 23, 2007; U.S. Provisional Application 60/932,226, filed May 29, 2007, European Application 07110086.1, filed Jun. 12, 2007, and U.S. Provisional Application 60/937,994, filed Jun. 29, 2007. The entire content of each aforementioned application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

SUBMISSION OF SEQUENCE LISTING

The Sequence Listing associated with this application is filed in electronic format via EFS-Web and hereby incorporated by reference into the specification in its entirety. The name of the text file containing the Sequence Listing is Sequence_Listing_(—)074029_(—)0054_(—)01. The size of the text file is 335 KB, and the text file was created on Sep. 26, 2014.

The present invention relates generally to the field of molecular biology and concerns a method for enhancing plant yield-related traits relative to control plants. More specifically, the present invention concerns a method for enhancing yield related traits in plants relative to control plants, by modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX); or by modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide in a plant. The present invention also concerns plants having modulated, preferably increased, expression in the roots, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX, or having modulated expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide, which plants have enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants. The invention also provides constructs useful in the methods of the invention.

The ever-increasing world population and the dwindling supply of arable land available for agriculture fuels research towards increasing the efficiency of agriculture. Conventional means for crop and horticultural improvements utilise selective breeding techniques to identify plants having desirable characteristics. However, such selective breeding techniques have several drawbacks, namely that these techniques are typically labour intensive and result in plants that often contain heterogeneous genetic components that may not always result in the desirable trait being passed on from parent plants. Advances in molecular biology have allowed mankind to modify the germplasm of animals and plants. Genetic engineering of plants entails the isolation and manipulation of genetic material (typically in the form of DNA or RNA) and the subsequent introduction of that genetic material into a plant. Such technology has the capacity to deliver crops or plants having various improved economic, agronomic or horticultural traits.

A trait of particular economic interest is increased yield. Yield is normally defined as the measurable produce of economic value from a crop. This may be defined in terms of quantity and/or quality. Yield is directly dependent on several factors, for example, the number and size of the organs, plant architecture (for example, the number of branches), seed production, leaf senescence and more. Root development, nutrient uptake, stress tolerance and early vigour may also be important factors in determining yield. Optimizing the abovementioned factors may therefore contribute to increasing crop yield.

Seed yield is a particularly important trait, since the seeds of many plants are important for human and animal nutrition. Crops such as corn, rice, wheat, canola and soybean account for over half the total human caloric intake, whether through direct consumption of the seeds themselves or through consumption of meat products raised on processed seeds. They are also a source of sugars, oils and many kinds of metabolites used in industrial processes. Seeds contain an embryo (the source of new shoots and roots) and an endosperm (the source of nutrients for embryo growth during germination and during early growth of seedlings). The development of a seed involves many genes, and requires the transfer of metabolites from the roots leaves and stems into the growing seed. The endosperm, in particular, assimilates the metabolic precursors of carbohydrates, oils and proteins and synthesizes them into storage macromolecules to fill out the grain.

Another important trait for many crops is early vigour. Improving early vigour is an important objective of modern rice breeding programs in both temperate and tropical rice cultivars. Long roots are important for proper soil anchorage in water-seeded rice. Where rice is sown directly into flooded fields, and where plants must emerge rapidly through water, longer shoots are associated with vigour. Where drill-seeding is practiced, longer mesocotyls and coleoptiles are important for good seedling emergence. The ability to engineer early vigour into plants would be of great importance in agriculture. For example, poor early vigour has been a limitation to the introduction of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids based on Corn Belt germplasm in the European Atlantic.

Plant biomass is yield for forage crops like alfalfa, silage corn and hay. Many proxies for yield have been used in grain crops. Chief amongst these are estimates of plant size. Plant size can be measured in many ways depending on species and developmental stage, but include total plant dry weight, above-ground dry weight, above-ground fresh weight, leaf area, stem volume, plant height, rosette diameter, leaf length, root length, root mass, tiller number and leaf number. Many species maintain a conservative ratio between the size of different parts of the plant at a given developmental stage. These allometric relationships are used to extrapolate from one of these measures of size to another (e.g. Tittonell et al 2005 Agric Ecosys & Environ 105: 213). Plant size at an early developmental stage will typically correlate with plant size later in development. A larger plant with a greater leaf area can typically absorb more light and carbon dioxide than a smaller plant and therefore will likely gain a greater weight during the same period (Fasoula & Tollenaar 2005 Maydica 50:39). This is in addition to the potential continuation of the micro-environmental or genetic advantage that the plant had to achieve the larger size initially. There is a strong genetic component to plant size and growth rate (e.g. ter Steege et al 2005 Plant Physiology 139:1078), and so for a range of diverse genotypes plant size under one environmental condition is likely to correlate with size under another (Hittalmani et al 2003 Theoretical Applied Genetics 107:679). In this way a standard environment is used as a proxy for the diverse and dynamic environments encountered at different locations and times by crops in the field.

Harvest index, the ratio of seed yield to aboveground dry weight, is relatively stable under many environmental conditions and so a robust correlation between plant size and grain yield can often be obtained (e.g. Rebetzke et al 2002 Crop Science 42:739). These processes are intrinsically linked because the majority of grain biomass is dependent on current or stored photosynthetic productivity by the leaves and stem of the plant (Gardener et al 1985 Physiology of Crop Plants. Iowa State University Press, pp 68-73). Therefore, selecting for plant size, even at early stages of development, has been used as an indicator for future potential yield (e.g. Tittonell et al 2005 Agric Ecosys & Environ 105: 213). When testing for the impact of genetic differences on stress tolerance, the ability to standardize soil properties, temperature, water and nutrient availability and light intensity is an intrinsic advantage of greenhouse or plant growth chamber environments compared to the field. However, artificial limitations on yield due to poor pollination due to the absence of wind or insects, or insufficient space for mature root or canopy growth, can restrict the use of these controlled environments for testing yield differences. Therefore, measurements of plant size in early development, under standardized conditions in a growth chamber or greenhouse, are standard practices to provide indication of potential genetic yield advantages.

Another trait of importance is that of improved abiotic stress tolerance. Abiotic stress is a primary cause of crop loss worldwide, reducing average yields for most major crop plants by more than 50% (Wang et al. (2003) Planta 218: 1-14). Abiotic stresses may be caused by drought, salinity, extremes of temperature, chemical toxicity, excess or lack of nutrients (macroelements and/or microelements), radiation and oxidative stress. The ability to increase plant tolerance to abiotic stress would be of great economic advantage to farmers worldwide and would allow for the cultivation of crops during adverse conditions and in territories where cultivation of crops may not otherwise be possible.

Crop yield may therefore be increased by optimising one of the above-mentioned factors.

Depending on the end use, the modification of certain yield traits may be favoured over others. For example for applications such as forage or wood production, or bio-fuel resource, an increase in the vegetative parts of a plant may be desirable, and for applications such as flour, starch or oil production, an increase in seed parameters may be particularly desirable. Even amongst the seed parameters, some may be favoured over others, depending on the application. Various mechanisms may contribute to increasing seed yield, whether that is in the form of increased seed size or increased seed number.

One approach to enhance yield-related traits (for example increasing yield, in particular seed yield and/or biomass) in plants may be through modification of the inherent growth mechanisms of a plant, such as the cell cycle or various signalling pathways involved in plant growth or in defense mechanisms.

Surprisingly, it has now been found that various plant yield-related traits may be enhanced relative to control plants, by modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX), or by modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide in a plant.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a method for enhancing various yield-related traits relative to control plants, comprising modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX), or by modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide, in a plant.

BACKGROUND 1. 2-Cysteine Peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX)

Thiol peroxidases (PRX) are ubiquitous heme-free peroxidases, which catalyze the reduction of peroxynitrites and of various peroxides by catalytic cysteine residues and thiol-containing proteins as reductants. In plants, five different classes can be distinguished, according to the number and the position of conserved catalytic cysteines. Four classes are defined as peroxiredoxins and were already identified by phylogenetic sequence analysis, 1-Cys, 2-Cys, type II, and type Q peroxiredoxins, and the fifth is represented by glutathione peroxidases, which were recently shown to possess a thioredoxin-dependent activity in plants (Rouhier & Jacquot (2005) Free Radic Biol Med 38(11): 1413-21). The analysis of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome indicates that at least 17 isoforms of thioredoxin-dependent peroxidases are expressed in various plant compartments.

2-Cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX) are a group of proteins that participate in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and photosynthesis. These enzymes reduce H₂O₂, peroxinitrite and alkyl hydroperoxide to water or alcohol, respectively (Netto et al., (1996) J Biol Chem 271(26): 15315-15321) with thioredoxin (Trx) as electron donor. By doing so, 2-Cys PRXs regulate signal transduction pathways or protect macromolecules against oxidative damage. These proteins are homodimers and each subunit has the two conserved cysteines (Choi et al., (1998) Nature Struct Biol 5:400-406). The peroxide oxidizes the N-terminal cysteine of one subunit to sulphenic acid, which reacts with the C-terminal cysteine of the other subunit to form an intermolecular disulphide. To complete the catalytic cycle the enzyme is reduced via a thiol/disulphide redox interchange (Chae et al., (1994) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91: 7017-7021).

Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants (Baier et al. (2000) Plant Physiol 124(2): 823-32) with reduced levels of 2-Cys PRX were generated by antisense suppression. The suppression of 2-Cys PRX expression lead to increased expression of other anti-oxidative genes, demonstrating that the enzyme forms an integral part of the anti-oxidant network of chloroplasts and is functionally interconnected with other defense systems.

International patent application WO05/116082 describes the obtention of transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing an Arabidopsis 2-Cys PRX (named BAS1) using the constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. The transgenic plants are described as having more potential resistance to heat shock and pathogens than the wild type plants.

Surprisingly, it has now been found that modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide gives plants having enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants.

According one embodiment, there is provided a method for enhancing yield related traits of a plant relative to control plants, comprising modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide. The enhanced yield related traits comprise one or more of: (i) improved early vigour; (ii) increased aboveground biomass; (iii) increased root (thick and thin) biomass; (iv) increase number of flowers per panicle; (v) increased seed fill rate; (vi) increased total seed yield per plant; (vii) increased number of (filled) seeds; (viii) increased harvest index; or (ix) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW).

2. Annexin-Like (ANN)

Annexins form a family of calcium dependent phospholipid binding proteins and are found in plants and animals. In all plant species tested, the presence of at least two different annexins has been demonstrated. Structurally, plant annexins are less divergent than animal annexins. Comparative studies revealed that plant annexins share significant homology in a core domain which comprises at least one, usually four or more conserved repeats which are approximately 70 amino acids in length. As calcium-binding proteins, annexins are postulated to play a role in calcium signalling pathways. Although the structure of annexins is well known nowadays, functionally they are not well characterised. In plants, annexins are reported to be involved in Golgi-mediated secretion, cell expansion, vacuole biogenesis, chloroplast membrane binding, cell cycle, nodulation signalling, stress signalling.

US20050089872 describes T-DNA insertion mutants (anx1 and anx4-1) for respectively the Annexin 1 and Annexin 4 encoding genes from Arabidopsis thaliana. The mutants were sensitive to salt stress and osmotic stress. Also abscisic acid had a negative effect on germination and growth of the anx1 and anx4-1 mutants. Expression analysis revealed that the ANX1 protein was predominantly expressed in the root, but not in flower, stem or leaf tissues. It is postulated that the ANX1 and ANX4 proteins play a role in the transduction of osmotic stress and ABA signals.

Surprisingly, it has now been found that modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide gives plants having enhanced yield-related traits, in particular increased yield relative to control plants.

According one embodiment, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits of a plant relative to control plants, comprising modulating expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide in a plant. The improved yield related traits comprise increased seed yield.

DEFINITIONS Polypeptide(s)/Protein(s)

The terms “polypeptide” and “protein” are used interchangeably herein and refer to amino acids in a polymeric form of any length, linked together by peptide bonds.

Polynucleotide(s)/Nucleic Acid(s)/Nucleic Acid Sequence(s)/Nucleotide Sequence(s)

The terms “polynucleotide(s)”, “nucleic acid sequence(s)”, “nucleotide sequence(s)”, “nucleic acid(s)”, “nucleic acid molecule(s)” are used interchangeably herein and refer to nucleotides, either ribonucleotides or deoxyribonucleotides or a combination of both, in a polymeric unbranched form of any length.

Control Plant(s)

The choice of suitable control plants is a routine part of an experimental setup and may include corresponding wild type plants or corresponding plants without the gene of interest. The control plant is typically of the same plant species or even of the same variety as the plant to be assessed. The control plant may also be a nullizygote of the plant to be assessed. A “control plant” as used herein refers not only to whole plants, but also to plant parts, including seeds and seed parts.

Homologue(s)

“Homologues” of a protein encompass peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides, proteins and enzymes having amino acid substitutions, deletions and/or insertions relative to the unmodified protein in question and having similar biological and functional activity as the unmodified protein from which they are derived.

A deletion refers to removal of one or more amino acids from a protein.

An insertion refers to one or more amino acid residues being introduced into a predetermined site in a protein. Insertions may comprise N-terminal and/or C-terminal fusions as well as intra-sequence insertions of single or multiple amino acids. Generally, insertions within the amino acid sequence will be smaller than N- or C-terminal fusions, of the order of about 1 to 10 residues. Examples of N- or C-terminal fusion proteins or peptides include the binding domain or activation domain of a transcriptional activator as used in the yeast two-hybrid system, phage coat proteins, (histidine)-6-tag, glutathione S-transferase-tag, protein A, maltose-binding protein, dihydrofolate reductase, Tag.100 epitope, c-myc epitope, FLAG®-epitope, lacZ, CMP (calmodulin-binding peptide), HA epitope, protein C epitope and VSV epitope.

A substitution refers to replacement of amino acids of the protein with other amino acids having similar properties (such as similar hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, antigenicity, propensity to form or break α-helical structures or β-sheet structures). Amino acid substitutions are typically of single residues, but may be clustered depending upon functional constraints placed upon the polypeptide; insertions will usually be of the order of about 1 to 10 amino acid residues. The amino acid substitutions are preferably conservative amino acid substitutions. Conservative substitution tables are well known in the art (see for example Creighton (1984) Proteins. W.H. Freeman and Company (Eds) and Table 1 below).

TABLE 1 Examples of conserved amino acid substitutions Residue Conservative Substitutions Ala Ser Arg Lys Asn Gln; His Asp Glu Gln Asn Cys Ser Glu Asp Gly Pro His Asn; Gln Ile Leu, Val Leu Ile; Val Lys Arg; Gln Met Leu; Ile Phe Met; Leu; Tyr Ser Thr; Gly Thr Ser; Val Trp Tyr Tyr Trp; Phe Val Ile; Leu

Amino acid substitutions, deletions and/or insertions may readily be made using peptide synthetic techniques well known in the art, such as solid phase peptide synthesis and the like, or by recombinant DNA manipulation. Methods for the manipulation of DNA sequences to produce substitution, insertion or deletion variants of a protein are well known in the art. For example, techniques for making substitution mutations at predetermined sites in DNA are well known to those skilled in the art and include M13 mutagenesis, T7-Gen in vitro mutagenesis (USB, Cleveland, Ohio), QuickChange Site Directed mutagenesis (Stratagene, San Diego, Calif.), PCR-mediated site-directed mutagenesis or other site-directed mutagenesis protocols.

Derivatives

“Derivatives” include peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides which may, compared to the amino acid sequence of the naturally-occurring form of the protein, such as the protein of interest, comprise substitutions of amino acids with non-naturally occurring amino acid residues, or additions of non-naturally occurring amino acid residues. “Derivatives” of a protein also encompass peptides, oligopeptides, polypeptides which comprise naturally occurring altered (glycosylated, acylated, prenylated, phosphorylated, myristoylated, sulphated etc.) or non-naturally altered amino acid residues compared to the amino acid sequence of a naturally-occurring form of the polypeptide. A derivative may also comprise one or more non-amino acid substituents or additions compared to the amino acid sequence from which it is derived, for example a reporter molecule or other ligand, covalently or non-covalently bound to the amino acid sequence, such as a reporter molecule which is bound to facilitate its detection, and non-naturally occurring amino acid residues relative to the amino acid sequence of a naturally-occurring protein.

Orthologue(s)/Paralogue(s)

Orthologues and paralogues encompass evolutionary concepts used to describe the ancestral relationships of genes. Paralogues are genes within the same species that have originated through duplication of an ancestral gene; orthologues are genes from different organisms that have originated through speciation, and are also derived from a common ancestral gene.

Domain

The term “domain” refers to a set of amino acids conserved at specific positions along an alignment of sequences of evolutionarily related proteins. While amino acids at other positions can vary between homologues, amino acids that are highly conserved at specific positions indicate amino acids that are likely essential in the structure, stability or function of a protein. Identified by their high degree of conservation in aligned sequences of a family of protein homologues, they can be used as identifiers to determine if any polypeptide in question belongs to a previously identified polypeptide family.

Motif/Consensus Sequence/Signature

The term “motif” or “consensus sequence” or “signature” refers to a short conserved region in the sequence of evolutionarily related proteins. Motifs are frequently highly conserved parts of domains, but may also include only part of the domain, or be located outside of conserved domain (if all of the amino acids of the motif fall outside of a defined domain).

Hybridisation

The term “hybridisation” as defined herein is a process wherein substantially homologous complementary nucleotide sequences anneal to each other. The hybridisation process can occur entirely in solution, i.e. both complementary nucleic acid molecules are in solution. The hybridisation process can also occur with one of the complementary nucleic acid molecules immobilised to a matrix such as magnetic beads, Sepharose beads or any other resin. The hybridisation process can furthermore occur with one of the complementary nucleic acid molecules immobilised to a solid support such as a nitro-cellulose or nylon membrane or immobilised by e.g. photolithography to, for example, a siliceous glass support (the latter known as nucleic acid arrays or microarrays or as nucleic acid chips). In order to allow hybridisation to occur, the nucleic acid molecules are generally thermally or chemically denatured to melt a double strand into two single strands and/or to remove hairpins or other secondary structures from single stranded nucleic acid molecules.

The term “stringency” refers to the conditions under which a hybridisation takes place. The stringency of hybridisation is influenced by conditions such as temperature, salt concentration, ionic strength and hybridisation buffer composition. Generally, low stringency conditions are selected to be about 30° C. lower than the thermal melting 2-Cys PRXnt (T_(m)) for the specific sequence at a defined ionic strength and pH. Medium stringency conditions are when the temperature is 20° C. below T_(m), and high stringency conditions are when the temperature is 10° C. below T_(m). High stringency hybridisation conditions are typically used for isolating hybridising sequences that have high sequence similarity to the target nucleic acid sequence. However, nucleic acid sequences may deviate in sequence composition and still encode a substantially identical polypeptide, due to the degeneracy of the genetic code. Therefore medium stringency hybridisation conditions may sometimes be needed to identify such nucleic acid molecules.

The Tm is the temperature under defined ionic strength and pH, at which 50% of the target sequence hybridises to a perfectly matched probe. The T_(m) is dependent upon the solution conditions and the base composition and length of the probe. For example, longer sequences hybridise specifically at higher temperatures. The maximum rate of hybridisation is obtained from about 16° C. up to 32° C. below T_(m). The presence of monovalent cations in the hybridisation solution reduce the electrostatic repulsion between the two nucleic acid strands thereby promoting hybrid formation; this effect is visible for sodium concentrations of up to 0.4M (for higher concentrations, this effect may be ignored). Formamide reduces the melting temperature of DNA-DNA and DNA-RNA duplexes with 0.6 to 0.7° C. for each percent formamide, and addition of 50% formamide allows hybridisation to be performed at 30 to 45° C., though the rate of hybridisation will be lowered. Base pair mismatches reduce the hybridisation rate and the thermal stability of the duplexes. On average and for large probes, the Tm decreases about 1° C. per % base mismatch. The Tm may be calculated using the following equations, depending on the types of hybrids:

1) DNA-DNA hybrids (Meinkoth and Wahl, Anal. Biochem., 138: 267-284, 1984):

T _(m)=81.5° C.+16.6×log₁₀ [Na⁺]^(a)+0.41×%[G/C ^(b)]−500×[L ^(c)]⁻¹−0.61×% formamide

2) DNA-RNA or RNA-RNA hybrids:

Tm=79.8+18.5 (log₁₀[Na⁺]^(a))+0.58(% G/C ^(b))+11.8(% G/C ^(b))²−820/L ^(c)

3) oligo-DNA or oligo-RNA^(d) hybrids:

-   -   For <20 nucleotides: T_(m)=2 (I_(n))     -   For 20-35 nucleotides: T_(m)=22+1.46 (I_(n))     -   ^(a) or for other monovalent cation, but only accurate in the         0.01-0.4 M range.     -   ^(b) only accurate for % GC in the 30% to 75% range.     -   ^(c) L=length of duplex in base pairs.     -   ^(d) oligo, oligonucleotide; I_(n),=effective length of         primer=2×(no. of G/C)+(no. of NT).

Non-specific binding may be controlled using any one of a number of known techniques such as, for example, blocking the membrane with protein containing solutions, additions of heterologous RNA, DNA, and SDS to the hybridisation buffer, and treatment with Rnase. For non-homologous probes, a series of hybridizations may be performed by varying one of (i) progressively lowering the annealing temperature (for example from 68° C. to 42° C.) or (ii) progressively lowering the formamide concentration (for example from 50% to 0%). The skilled artisan is aware of various parameters which may be altered during hybridisation and which will either maintain or change the stringency conditions.

Besides the hybridisation conditions, specificity of hybridisation typically also depends on the function of post-hybridisation washes. To remove background resulting from non-specific hybridisation, samples are washed with dilute salt solutions. Critical factors of such washes include the ionic strength and temperature of the final wash solution: the lower the salt concentration and the higher the wash temperature, the higher the stringency of the wash. Wash conditions are typically performed at or below hybridisation stringency. A positive hybridisation gives a signal that is at least twice of that of the background. Generally, suitable stringent conditions for nucleic acid hybridisation assays or gene amplification detection procedures are as set forth above. More or less stringent conditions may also be selected. The skilled artisan is aware of various parameters which may be altered during washing and which will either maintain or change the stringency conditions.

For example, typical high stringency hybridisation conditions for DNA hybrids longer than 50 nucleotides encompass hybridisation at 65° C. in 1×SSC or at 42° C. in 1×SSC and 50% formamide, followed by washing at 65° C. in 0.3×SSC. Examples of medium stringency hybridisation conditions for DNA hybrids longer than 50 nucleotides encompass hybridisation at 50° C. in 4×SSC or at 40° C. in 6×SSC and 50% formamide, followed by washing at 50° C. in 2×SSC. The length of the hybrid is the anticipated length for the hybridising nucleic acid molecule. When nucleic acid molecules of known sequence are hybridised, the hybrid length may be determined by aligning the sequences and identifying the conserved regions described herein. 1×SSC is 0.15M NaCl and 15 mM sodium citrate; the hybridisation solution and wash solutions may additionally include 5×Denhardt's reagent, 0.5-1.0% SDS, 100 μg/ml denatured, fragmented salmon sperm DNA, 0.5% sodium pyrophosphate.

For the purposes of defining the level of stringency, reference can be made to Sambrook et al. (2001) Molecular Cloning: a laboratory manual, 3^(rd) Edition, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, CSH, New York or to Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y. (1989 and yearly updates).

Splice Variant

The term “splice variant” as used herein encompasses variants of a nucleic acid sequence in which selected introns and/or exons have been excised, replaced, displaced or added, or in which introns have been shortened or lengthened. Such variants will be ones in which the biological activity of the protein is substantially retained; this may be achieved by selectively retaining functional segments of the protein. Such splice variants may be found in nature or may be manmade. Methods for predicting and isolating such splice variants are well known in the art (see for example Foissac and Schiex (2005) BMC Bioinformatics 6: 25).

Allelic Variant

Alleles or allelic variants are alternative forms of a given gene, located at the same chromosomal position. Allelic variants encompass Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), as well as Small Insertion/Deletion Polymorphisms (INDELs). The size of INDELs is usually less than 100 bp. SNPs and INDELs form the largest set of sequence variants in naturally occurring polymorphic strains of most organisms.

Gene Shuffling/Directed Evolution

Gene shuffling or directed evolution consists of iterations of DNA shuffling followed by appropriate screening and/or selection to generate variants of nucleic acid sequences or portions thereof encoding proteins having a modified biological activity (Castle et al., (2004) Science 304(5674): 1151-4; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,811,238 and 6,395,547).

Regulatory Element/Control Sequence/Promoter

The terms “regulatory element”, “control sequence” and “promoter” are all used interchangeably herein and are to be taken in a broad context to refer to regulatory nucleic acid sequences capable of effecting expression of the sequences to which they are ligated. The term “promoter” typically refers to a nucleic acid control sequence located upstream from the transcriptional start of a gene and which is involved in recognising and binding of RNA polymerase and other proteins, thereby directing transcription of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence. Encompassed by the aforementioned terms are transcriptional regulatory sequences derived from a classical eukaryotic genomic gene (including the TATA box which is required for accurate transcription initiation, with or without a CCAAT box sequence) and additional regulatory elements (i.e. upstream activating sequences, enhancers and silencers) which alter gene expression in response to developmental and/or external stimuli, or in a tissue-specific manner. Also included within the term is a transcriptional regulatory sequence of a classical prokaryotic gene, in which case it may include a −35 box sequence and/or −10 box transcriptional regulatory sequences. The term “regulatory element” also encompasses a synthetic fusion molecule or derivative that confers, activates or enhances expression of a nucleic acid sequence in a cell, tissue or organ.

A “plant promoter” comprises regulatory elements, which mediate the expression of a coding sequence segment in plant cells. Accordingly, a plant promoter need not be of plant origin, but may originate from viruses or micro-organisms, for example from viruses which attack plant cells. The “plant promoter” can also originate from a plant cell, e.g. from the plant which is transformed with the nucleic acid sequence to be expressed in the inventive process and described herein. This also applies to other “plant” regulatory signals, such as “plant” terminators. The promoters upstream of the nucleotide sequences useful in the methods of the present invention can be modified by one or more nucleotide substitution(s), insertion(s) and/or deletion(s) without interfering with the functionality or activity of either the promoters, the open reading frame (ORF) or the 3′-regulatory region such as terminators or other 3′ regulatory regions which are located away from the ORF. It is furthermore possible that the activity of the promoters is increased by modification of their sequence, or that they are replaced completely by more active promoters, even promoters from heterologous organisms. For expression in plants, the nucleic acid sequence must, as described above, be linked operably to or comprise a suitable promoter which expresses the gene at the right moment in time and with the required spatial expression pattern.

For the identification of functionally equivalent promoters, the promoter strength and/or expression pattern of a candidate promoter may be analysed for example by operably linking the promoter to a reporter gene and assaying the expression level and pattern of the reporter gene in various tissues of the plant. Suitable well-known reporter genes include for example beta-glucuronidase or beta-galactosidase. The promoter activity is assayed by measuring the enzymatic activity of the beta-glucuronidase or beta-galactosidase. The promoter strength and/or expression pattern may then be compared to that of a reference promoter (such as the one used in the methods of the present invention). Alternatively, promoter strength may be assayed by quantifying mRNA levels or by comparing mRNA levels of the nucleic acid sequence used in the methods of the present invention, with mRNA levels of housekeeping genes such as 18S rRNA, using methods known in the art, such as Northern blotting with densitometric analysis of autoradiograms, quantitative real-time PCR or RT-PCR (Heid et al., 1996 Genome Methods 6: 986-994). Generally by “weak promoter” is intended a promoter that drives expression of a coding sequence at a low level. By “low level” is intended at levels of about 1/10,000 transcripts to about 1/100,000 transcripts, to about 1/500,0000 transcripts per cell. Conversely, a “strong promoter” drives expression of a coding sequence at high level, or at about 1/10 transcripts to about 1/100 transcripts to about 1/1000 transcripts per cell.

Operably Linked

The term “operably linked” as used herein refers to a functional linkage between the promoter sequence and the gene of interest, such that the promoter sequence is able to initiate transcription of the gene of interest.

Constitutive Promoter

A “constitutive promoter” refers to a promoter that is transcriptionally active during most, but not necessarily all, phases of growth and development and under most environmental conditions, in at least one cell, tissue or organ. Table 2a below gives examples of constitutive promoters.

TABLE 2a Examples of constitutive promoters Gene Source Reference Actin McElroy et al, Plant Cell, 2: 163-171, 1990 HMGB WO 2004/070039 CAMV 35S Odell et al, Nature, 313: 810-812, 1985 CaMV 19S Nilsson et al., Physiol. Plant. 100: 456-462, 1997 GOS2 de Pater et al, Plant J Nov;2(6): 837-44, 1992, WO 2004/065596 Ubiquitin Christensen et al, Plant Mol. Biol. 18: 675-689, 1992 Rice cyclophilin Buchholz et al, Plant Mol Biol. 25(5): 837-43, 1994 Maize H3 histone Lepetit et al, Mol. Gen. Genet. 231: 276-285, 1992 Alfalfa H3 histone Wu et al. Plant Mol. Biol. 11: 641-649, 1988 Actin 2 An et al, Plant J. 10(1); 107-121, 1996 34S FMV Sanger et al., Plant. Mol. Biol., 14, 1990: 433-443 Rubisco small U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,028 subunit OCS Leisner (1988) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85(5): 2553 SAD1 Jain et al., Crop Science, 39 (6), 1999: 1696 SAD2 Jain et al., Crop Science, 39 (6), 1999: 1696 nos Shaw et al. (1984) Nucleic Acids Res. 12(20): 7831-7846 V-ATPase WO 01/14572 Super promoter WO 95/14098 G-box proteins WO 94/12015

Ubiquitous Promoter

A ubiquitous promoter is active in substantially all tissues or cells of an organism.

Developmentally-Regulated Promoter

A developmentally-regulated promoter is active during certain developmental stages or in parts of the plant that undergo developmental changes.

Inducible Promoter

An inducible promoter has induced or increased transcription initiation in response to a chemical (for a review see Gatz 1997, Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol., 48:89-108), environmental or physical stimulus, or may be “stress-inducible”, i.e. activated when a plant is exposed to various stress conditions, or a “pathogen-inducible” i.e. activated when a plant is exposed to exposure to various pathogens.

Organ-Specific/Tissue-Specific Promoter

An organ-specific or tissue-specific promoter is one that is capable of preferentially initiating transcription in certain organs or tissues, such as the leaves, roots, seed tissue etc. For example, a “root-specific promoter” is a promoter that is transcriptionally active predominantly in plant roots, substantially to the exclusion of any other parts of a plant, whilst still allowing for any leaky expression in these other plant parts. Promoters able to initiate transcription in certain cells only are referred to herein as “cell-specific”.

Examples of root-specific promoters are listed in Table 2b below:

TABLE 2b Examples of root-specific promoters Gene Source Reference Rice RCc3 Xu et al (1995) Plant Mol Biol 27(2): 237-48 Arabidopsis phosphate transporter PHT1 Kovama et al., 2005 Medicago phosphate transporter Xiao et al., 2006 Arabidopsis Pyk10 Nitz et al. (2001) Plant Sci 161(2): 337-346 Tobacco root-specific genes RB7, RD2, RD5, Conkling et al. (1990) Plant Phys 93(3): RH12 1203-1211 Barley root-specific lectin Lerner & Raikhel (1989) Plant Phys 91: 124- 129 Root-specific hydroxy-proline rich protein Keller & Lamb (1989) Genes & Dev 3: 1639- 1646 Arabidopsis CDC27B/hobbit Blilou et al. (2002) Genes & Dev 16: 2566- 2575

A seed-specific promoter is transcriptionally active predominantly in seed tissue, but not necessarily exclusively in seed tissue (in cases of leaky expression). The seed-specific promoter may be active during seed development and/or during germination. The seed specific promoter may be specific to one or more of: endosperm, aleurone, or embryo specific. Examples of seed-specific promoters are shown in Tables 2c, 2d, 2e, 2f below. Further examples of seed-specific promoters are given in Qing Qu and Takaiwa (Plant Biotechnol. J. 2, 113-125, 2004), which disclosure is incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth.

TABLE 2c Examples of seed-specific promoters Gene source Reference seed-specific genes Simon et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 5: 191, 1985; Scofield et al., J. Biol. Chem. 262: 12202, 1987.; Baszczynski et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 14: 633, 1990. Brazil Nut albumin Pearson et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 18: 235-245, 1992. Legumin Ellis et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 10: 203-214, 1988. glutelin (rice) Takaiwa et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 208: 15-22, 1986; Takaiwa et al., FEBS Letts. 221: 43-47, 1987. Zein Matzke et al Plant Mol Biol, 14(3): 323-32 1990 NapA Stalberg et al, Planta 199: 515-519, 1996. wheat LMW and HMW glutenin-1 Mol Gen Genet 216: 81-90, 1989; NAR 17: 461-2, 1989 wheat SPA Albani et al, Plant Cell, 9: 171-184, 1997 wheat α, β, γ-gliadins EMBO J. 3: 1409-15, 1984 barley Itr1 promoter Diaz et al. (1995) Mol Gen Genet 248(5): 592-8 barley B1, C, D, hordein Theor Appl Gen 98: 1253-62, 1999; Plant J 4: 343-55, 1993; Mol Gen Genet 250: 750-60, 1996 barley DOF Mena et al, The Plant Journal, 116(1): 53-62, 1998 blz2 EP99106056.7 Synthetic promoter Vicente-Carbajosa et al., Plant J. 13: 629-640, 1998. rice prolamin NRP33 Wu et al, Plant Cell Physiology 39(8) 885-889, 1998 rice a-globulin Glb-1 Wu et al, Plant Cell Physiology 39(8) 885-889, 1998 rice OSH1 Sato et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93: 8117-8122, 1996 rice α-globulin REB/OHP-1 Nakase et al. Plant Mol. Biol. 33: 513-522, 1997 rice ADP-glucose pyrophos- Trans Res 6: 157-68, 1997 phorylase maize ESR gene family Plant J 12: 235-46, 1997 Sorghum α-kafirin DeRose et al., Plant Mol. Biol 32: 1029-35, 1996 KNOX Postma-Haarsma et al, Plant Mol. Biol. 39: 257-71, 1999 rice oleosin Wu et al, J. Biochem. 123: 386, 1998 sunflower oleosin Cummins et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 19: 873-876, 1992 PRO0117, putative rice 40S WO 2004/070039 ribosomal protein PRO0136, rice alanine unpublished aminotransferase PRO0147, trypsin inhibitor ITR1 Unpublished (barley) PRO0151, rice WSI18 WO 2004/070039 PRO0175, rice RAB21 WO 2004/070039 PRO005 WO 2004/070039 PRO0095 WO 2004/070039 α-amylase (Amy32b) Lanahan et al, Plant Cell 4: 203-211, 1992; Skriver et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88: 7266-7270, 1991 cathepsin β-like gene Cejudo et al, Plant Mol Biol 20: 849-856, 1992 Barley Ltp2 Kalla et al., Plant J. 6: 849-60, 1994 Chi26 Leah et al., Plant J. 4: 579-89, 1994 Maize B-Peru Selinger et al., Genetics 149; 1125-38, 1998

TABLE 2d examples of endosperm-specific promoters Gene source Reference glutelin (rice) Takaiwa et al. (1986) Mol Gen Genet 208: 15-22; Takaiwa et al. (1987) FEBS Letts. 221: 43-47 Zein Matzke et al., (1990) Plant Mol Biol 14(3): 323-32 wheat LMW and HMW glutenin-1 Colot et al. (1989) Mol Gen Genet 216: 81-90; Anderson et al. (1989) NAR 17: 461-2 wheat SPA Albani et al. (1997) Plant Cell 9: 171-184 wheat gliadins Rafalski et al. (1984) EMBO 3: 1409-15 barley Itr1 promoter Diaz et al. (1995) Mol Gen Genet 248(5): 592-8 barley B1, C, D, hordein Cho et al. (1999) Theor Appl Genet 98: 1253-62; Muller et al. (1993) Plant J 4: 343-55; Sorenson et al. (1996) Mol Gen Genet 250: 750-60 barley DOF Mena et al, (1998) Plant J 116(1): 53-62 blz2 Onate et al. (1999) J Biol Chem 274(14): 9175-82 synthetic promoter Vicente-Carbajosa et al. (1998) Plant J 13: 629-640 rice prolamin NRP33 Wu et al, (1998) Plant Cell Physiol 39(8) 885-889 rice globulin Glb-1 Wu et al. (1998) Plant Cell Physiol 39(8) 885-889 rice globulin REB/OHP-1 Nakase et al. (1997) Plant Molec Biol 33: 513-522 rice ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase Russell et al. (1997) Trans Res 6: 157-68 maize ESR gene family Opsahl-Ferstad et al. (1997) Plant J 12: 235-46 Sorghum kafirin DeRose et al. (1996) Plant Mol Biol 32: 1029-35

TABLE 2e Examples of embryo specific promoters: Gene source Reference KNOX Postma-Haarsma et al, Plant Mol. Biol. 39: 257-71, 1999 PRO0151 WO 2004/070039 PRO0175 WO 2004/070039 PRO005 WO 2004/070039 PRO0095 WO 2004/070039

TABLE 2f Examples of aleurone-specific promoters: Gene source Reference α-amylase Lanahan et al, Plant Cell 4: 203-211, 1992; (Amy32b) Skriver et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88: 7266-7270, 1991 cathepsin Cejudo et al, Plant Mol Biol 20: 849-856, 1992 β-like gene Barley Ltp2 Kalla et al., Plant J. 6: 849-60, 1994 Chi26 Leah et al., Plant J. 4: 579-89, 1994 Maize B-Peru Selinger et al., Genetics 149; 1125-38, 1998

A green tissue-specific promoter as defined herein is a promoter that is transcriptionally active predominantly in green tissue, substantially to the exclusion of any other parts of a plant, whilst still allowing for any leaky expression in these other plant parts.

Examples of green tissue-specific promoters which may be used to perform the methods of the invention are shown in Table 2g below.

TABLE 2g Examples of green tissue-specific promoters Gene Expression Reference Maize Orthophosphate dikinase Leaf specific Fukavama et al., 2001 Maize Phosphoenolpyruvate Leaf specific Kausch et al., 2001 carboxylase Rice Phosphoenolpyruvate Leaf specific Liu et al., 2003 carboxylase Rice small subunit Rubisco Leaf specific Nomura et al., 2000 rice beta expansin EXBP9 Shoot specific WO 2004/070039 Pigeonpea small subunit Rubisco Leaf specific Panguluri et al., 2005 Pea RBCS3A Leaf specific

Another example of a tissue-specific promoter is a meristem-specific promoter, which is transcriptionally active predominantly in meristematic tissue, substantially to the exclusion of any other parts of a plant, whilst still allowing for any leaky expression in these other plant parts. Examples of green meristem-specific promoters which may be used to perform the methods of the invention are shown in Table 2h below.

TABLE 2h Examples of meristem-specific promoters Gene source Expression pattern Reference rice OSH1 Shoot apical meristem, from Sato et al. (1996) Proc. Natl. embryo globular stage to Acad. Sci. USA, 93: 8117- seedling stage 8122 Rice Meristem specific BAD87835.1 metallothionein WAK1 & Shoot and root apical Wagner & Kohorn (2001) WAK 2 meristems, and in expanding Plant Cell 13(2): 303-318 leaves and sepals

Terminator

The term “terminator” encompasses a control sequence which is a DNA sequence at the end of a transcriptional unit which signals 3′ processing and polyadenylation of a primary transcript and termination of transcription. The terminator can be derived from the natural gene, from a variety of other plant genes, or from T-DNA. The terminator to be added may be derived from, for example, the nopaline synthase or octopine synthase genes, or alternatively from another plant gene, or less preferably from any other eukaryotic gene.

Modulation

The term “modulation” means in relation to expression or gene expression, a process in which the expression level is changed by said gene expression in comparison to the control plant, preferably the expression level is increased. The original, unmodulated expression may be of any kind of expression of a structural RNA (rRNA, tRNA) or mRNA with subsequent translation. The term “modulating the activity” shall mean any change of the expression of the inventive nucleic acid sequences or encoded proteins, which leads to enhanced yield-related traits (for example, increased yield and/or increased growth) of the plants.

Increased Expression/Overexpression

The term “increased expression” or “overexpression” as used herein means any form of expression that is additional to the original wild-type expression level.

Methods for increasing expression of genes or gene products are well documented in the art and include, for example, overexpression driven by appropriate promoters, the use of transcription enhancers or translation enhancers. Isolated nucleic acid sequences which serve as promoter or enhancer elements may be introduced in an appropriate position (typically upstream) of a non-heterologous form of a polynucleotide so as to upregulate expression of a nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide of interest. For example, endogenous promoters may be altered in vivo by mutation, deletion, and/or substitution (see, Kmiec, U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,350; Zarling et al., WO9322443), or isolated promoters may be introduced into a plant cell in the proper orientation and distance from a gene of the present invention so as to control the expression of the gene.

If polypeptide expression is desired, it is generally desirable to include a polyadenylation region at the 3′-end of a polynucleotide coding region. The polyadenylation region can be derived from the natural gene, from a variety of other plant genes, or from T-DNA. The 3′ end sequence to be added may be derived from, for example, the nopaline synthase or octopine synthase genes, or alternatively from another plant gene, or less preferably from any other eukaryotic gene.

An intron sequence may also be added to the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) or the coding sequence of the partial coding sequence to increase the amount of the mature message that accumulates in the cytosol. Inclusion of a spliceable intron in the transcription unit in both plant and animal expression constructs has been shown to increase gene expression at both the mRNA and protein levels up to 1000-fold (Buchman and Berg (1988) Mol. Cell biol. 8: 4395-4405; Callis et al. (1987) Genes Dev 1:1183-1200). Such intron enhancement of gene expression is typically greatest when placed near the 5′ end of the transcription unit. Use of the maize introns Adh1-S intron 1, 2, and 6, the Bronze-1 intron are known in the art. For general information see: The Maize Handbook, Chapter 116, Freeling and Walbot, Eds., Springer, N.Y. (1994).

Endogenous Gene

Reference herein to an “endogenous” gene not only refers to the gene in question as found in a plant in its natural form (i.e., without there being any human intervention), but also refers to that same gene (or a substantially homologous gene/nucleic acid sequence) in an isolated form subsequently (re)introduced into a plant (a transgene). For example, a transgenic plant containing such a transgene may encounter a substantial reduction of the transgene expression and/or substantial reduction of expression of the endogenous gene. The isolated gene may be isolated from an organism or may be manmade, for example by chemical synthesis.

Decreased Expression

Reference herein to “decreased expression” or “reduction or substantial elimination” of expression is taken to mean a decrease in endogenous gene expression and/or polypeptide levels and/or polypeptide activity relative to control plants. The reduction or substantial elimination is in increasing order of preference at least 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% or 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, or 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99% or more reduced compared to that of control plants.

For the reduction or substantial elimination of expression an endogenous gene in a plant, a sufficient length of substantially contiguous nucleotides of a nucleic acid sequence is required. In order to perform gene silencing, this may be as little as 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 or fewer nucleotides, alternatively this may be as much as the entire gene (including the 5′ and/or 3′ UTR, either in part or in whole). The stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides may be derived from the nucleic acid sequence encoding the protein of interest (target gene), or from any nucleic acid sequence capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of the protein of interest. Preferably, the stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides is capable of forming hydrogen bonds with the target gene (either sense or antisense strand), more preferably, the stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides has, in increasing order of preference, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, 99%, 100% sequence identity to the target gene (either sense or antisense strand). A nucleic acid sequence encoding a (functional) polypeptide is not a requirement for the various methods discussed herein for the reduction or substantial elimination of expression of an endogenous gene.

This reduction or substantial elimination of expression may be achieved using routine tools and techniques. A method for the reduction or substantial elimination of endogenous gene expression is by RNA-mediated silencing using an inverted repeat of a nucleic acid sequence or a part thereof (in this case a stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides derived from the gene of interest, or from any nucleic acid sequence capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of the protein of interest), preferably capable of forming a hairpin structure. Another example of an RNA silencing method involves the introduction of nucleic acid sequences or parts thereof (in this case a stretch of substantially contiguous nucleotides derived from the gene of interest, or from any nucleic acid sequence capable of encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of the protein of interest) in a sense orientation into a plant. Another example of an RNA silencing method involves the use of antisense nucleic acid sequences. Gene silencing may also be achieved by insertion mutagenesis (for example, T-DNA insertion or transposon insertion) or by strategies as described by, among others, Angell and Baulcombe ((1999) Plant J 20(3): 357-62), (Amplicon VIGS WO 98/36083), or Baulcombe (WO 99/15682). Other methods, such as the use of antibodies directed to an endogenous polypeptide for inhibiting its function in planta, or interference in the signalling pathway in which a polypeptide is involved, will be well known to the skilled man. Artificial and/or natural microRNAs (miRNAs) may be used to knock out gene expression and/or mRNA translation. Endogenous miRNAs are single stranded small RNAs of typically 19-24 nucleotides long. Artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs), which are typically 21 nucleotides in length, can be genetically engineered specifically to negatively regulate gene expression of single or multiple genes of interest. Determinants of plant microRNA target selection are well known in the art. Empirical parameters for target recognition have been defined and can be used to aid in the design of specific amiRNAs (Schwab et al., (2005) Dev Cell 8(4):517-27). Convenient tools for design and generation of amiRNAs and their precursors are also available to the public (Schwab et al., (2006) Plant Cell 18(5):1121-33).

For optimal performance, the gene silencing techniques used for reducing expression in a plant of an endogenous gene requires the use of nucleic acid sequences from monocotyledonous plants for transformation of monocotyledonous plants, and from dicotyledonous plants for transformation of dicotyledonous plants. Preferably, a nucleic acid sequence from any given plant species is introduced into that same species. For example, a nucleic acid sequence from rice is transformed into a rice plant. However, it is not an absolute requirement that the nucleic acid sequence to be introduced originates from the same plant species as the plant in which it will be introduced. It is sufficient that there is substantial homology between the endogenous target gene and the nucleic acid sequence to be introduced.

Described above are examples of various methods for the reduction or substantial elimination of expression in a plant of an endogenous gene. A person skilled in the art would readily be able to adapt the aforementioned methods for silencing so as to achieve reduction of expression of an endogenous gene in a whole plant or in parts thereof through the use of an appropriate promoter, for example.

Selectable Marker (Gene)/Reporter Gene

“Selectable marker”, “selectable marker gene” or “reporter gene” includes any gene that confers a phenotype on a cell in which it is expressed to facilitate the identification and/or selection of cells that are transfected or transformed with a nucleic acid construct of the invention. These marker genes enable the identification of a successful transfer of the nucleic acid molecules via a series of different principles. Suitable markers may be selected from markers that confer antibiotic or herbicide resistance, that introduce a new metabolic trait or that allow visual selection. Examples of selectable marker genes include genes conferring resistance to antibiotics (such as nptII that phosphorylates neomycin and kanamycin, or hpt, phosphorylating hygromycin, or genes conferring resistance to, for example, bleomycin, streptomycin, tetracyclin, chloramphenicol, ampicillin, gentamycin, geneticin (G418), spectinomycin or blasticidin), to herbicides (for example bar which provides resistance to Basta®; aroA or gox providing resistance against glyphosate, or the genes conferring resistance to, for example, imidazolinone, phosphinothricin or sulfonylurea), or genes that provide a metabolic trait (such as manA that allows plants to use mannose as sole carbon source or xylose isomerase for the utilisation of xylose, or antinutritive markers such as the resistance to 2-deoxyglucose). Expression of visual marker genes results in the formation of colour (for example β-glucuronidase, GUS or β-galactosidase with its coloured substrates, for example X-Gal), luminescence (such as the luciferin/luceferase system) or fluorescence (Green Fluorescent Protein, GFP, and derivatives thereof). This list represents only a small number of possible markers. The skilled worker is familiar with such markers. Different markers are preferred, depending on the organism and the selection method.

It is known that upon stable or transient integration of nucleic acid sequences into plant cells, only a minority of the cells takes up the foreign DNA and, if desired, integrates it into its genome, depending on the expression vector used and the transfection technique used. To identify and select these integrants, a gene coding for a selectable marker (such as the ones described above) is usually introduced into the host cells together with the gene of interest. These markers can for example be used in mutants in which these genes are not functional by, for example, deletion by conventional methods. Furthermore, nucleic acid molecules encoding a selectable marker can be introduced into a host cell on the same vector that comprises the sequence encoding the polypeptides of the invention or used in the methods of the invention, or else in a separate vector. Cells which have been stably transfected with the introduced nucleic acid sequence can be identified for example by selection (for example, cells which have integrated the selectable marker survive whereas the other cells die).

Since the marker genes, particularly genes for resistance to antibiotics and herbicides, are no longer required or are undesired in the transgenic host cell once the nucleic acid sequences have been introduced successfully, the process according to the invention for introducing the nucleic acid sequences advantageously employs techniques which enable the removal or excision of these marker genes. One such a method is what is known as co-transformation. The co-transformation method employs two vectors simultaneously for the transformation, one vector bearing the nucleic acid sequence according to the invention and a second bearing the marker gene(s). A large proportion of transformants receives or, in the case of plants, comprises (up to 40% or more of the transformants), both vectors. In case of transformation with Agrobacteria, the transformants usually receive only a part of the vector, i.e. the sequence flanked by the T-DNA, which usually represents the expression cassette. The marker genes can subsequently be removed from the transformed plant by performing crosses. In another method, marker genes integrated into a transposon are used for the transformation together with desired nucleic acid sequence (known as the Ac/Ds technology). The transformants can be crossed with a transposase source or the transformants are transformed with a nucleic acid construct conferring expression of a transposase, transiently or stable. In some cases (approx. 10%), the transposon jumps out of the genome of the host cell once transformation has taken place successfully and is lost. In a further number of cases, the transposon jumps to a different location. In these cases the marker gene must be eliminated by performing crosses. In microbiology, techniques were developed which make possible, or facilitate, the detection of such events. A further advantageous method relies on what is known as recombination systems; whose advantage is that elimination by crossing can be dispensed with. The best-known system of this type is what is known as the Cre/lox system. Cre1 is a recombinase that removes the sequences located between the loxP sequences. If the marker gene is integrated between the loxP sequences, it is removed once transformation has taken place successfully, by expression of the recombinase. Further recombination systems are the HIN/HIX, FLP/FRT and REP/STB system (Tribble et al., J. Biol. Chem., 275, 2000: 22255-22267; Velmurugan et al., J. Cell Biol., 149, 2000: 553-566). A site-specific integration into the plant genome of the nucleic acid sequences according to the invention is possible. Naturally, these methods can also be applied to microorganisms such as yeast, fungi or bacteria.

Transgenic/Transgene/Recombinant

For the purposes of the invention, “transgenic”, “transgene” or “recombinant” means with regard to, for example, a nucleic acid sequence, an expression cassette, gene construct or a vector comprising the nucleic acid sequence or an organism transformed with the nucleic acid sequences, expression cassettes or vectors according to the invention, all those constructions brought about by recombinant methods in which either

-   -   (a) the nucleic acid sequences encoding proteins useful in the         methods of the invention, or     -   (b) genetic control sequence(s) which is operably linked with         the nucleic acid sequence according to the invention, for         example a promoter, or     -   (c) a) and b) are not located in their natural genetic         environment or have been modified by recombinant methods, it         being possible for the modification to take the form of, for         example, a substitution, addition, deletion, inversion or         insertion of one or more nucleotide residues. The natural         genetic environment is understood as meaning the natural genomic         or chromosomal locus in the original plant or the presence in a         genomic library. In the case of a genomic library, the natural         genetic environment of the nucleic acid sequence is preferably         retained, at least in part. The environment flanks the nucleic         acid sequence at least on one side and has a sequence length of         at least 50 bp, preferably at least 500 bp, especially         preferably at least 1000 bp, most preferably at least 5000 bp. A         naturally occurring expression cassette—for example the         naturally occurring combination of the natural promoter of the         nucleic acid sequences with the corresponding nucleic acid         sequence encoding a polypeptide useful in the methods of the         present invention, as defined above—becomes a transgenic         expression cassette when this expression cassette is modified by         non-natural, synthetic (“artificial”) methods such as, for         example, mutagenic treatment. Suitable methods are described,         for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,350 or WO 00/15815.

A transgenic plant for the purposes of the invention is thus understood as meaning, as above, that the nucleic acid sequences used in the method of the invention are not at their natural locus in the genome of said plant, it being possible for the nucleic acid sequences to be expressed homologously or heterologously. However, as mentioned, transgenic also means that, while the nucleic acid sequences according to the invention or used in the inventive method are at their natural position in the genome of a plant, the sequence has been modified with regard to the natural sequence, and/or that the regulatory sequences of the natural sequences have been modified. Transgenic is preferably understood as meaning the expression of the nucleic acid sequences according to the invention at an unnatural locus in the genome, i.e. homologous or, preferably, heterologous expression of the nucleic acid sequences takes place. Preferred transgenic plants are mentioned herein.

Transformation

The term “introduction” or “transformation” as referred to herein encompasses the transfer of an exogenous polynucleotide into a host cell, irrespective of the method used for transfer. Plant tissue capable of subsequent clonal propagation, whether by organogenesis or embryogenesis, may be transformed with a genetic construct of the present invention and a whole plant regenerated there from. The particular tissue chosen will vary depending on the clonal propagation systems available for, and best suited to, the particular species being transformed. Exemplary tissue targets include leaf disks, pollen, embryos, cotyledons, hypocotyls, megagametophytes, callus tissue, existing meristematic tissue (e.g., apical meristem, axillary buds, and root meristems), and induced meristem tissue (e.g., cotyledon meristem and hypocotyl meristem). The polynucleotide may be transiently or stably introduced into a host cell and may be maintained non-integrated, for example, as a plasmid. Alternatively, it may be integrated into the host genome. The resulting transformed plant cell may then be used to regenerate a transformed plant in a manner known to persons skilled in the art.

The transfer of foreign genes into the genome of a plant is called transformation. Transformation of plant species is now a fairly routine technique. Advantageously, any of several transformation methods may be used to introduce the gene of interest into a suitable ancestor cell. The methods described for the transformation and regeneration of plants from plant tissues or plant cells may be utilized for transient or for stable transformation. Transformation methods include the use of liposomes, electroporation, chemicals that increase free DNA uptake, injection of the DNA directly into the plant, particle gun bombardment, transformation using viruses or pollen and microprojection. Methods may be selected from the calcium/polyethylene glycol method for protoplasts (Krens, F. A. et al., (1982) Nature 296, 72-74; Negrutiu I et al. (1987) Plant Mol Biol 8: 363-373); electroporation of protoplasts (Shillito R. D. et al. (1985) Bio/Technol 3, 1099-1102); microinjection into plant material (Crossway A et al., (1986) Mol. Gen Genet 202: 179-185); DNA or RNA-coated particle bombardment (Klein T M et al., (1987) Nature 327: 70) infection with (non-integrative) viruses and the like. Transgenic plants, including transgenic crop plants, are preferably produced via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. An advantageous transformation method is the transformation in planta. To this end, it is possible, for example, to allow the agrobacteria to act on plant seeds or to inoculate the plant meristem with agrobacteria. It has proved particularly expedient in accordance with the invention to allow a suspension of transformed agrobacteria to act on the intact plant or at least on the flower primordia. The plant is subsequently grown on until the seeds of the treated plant are obtained (Clough and Bent, Plant J. (1998) 16, 735-743). Methods for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of rice include well known methods for rice transformation, such as those described in any of the following: European patent application EP 1198985 A1, Aldemita and Hodges (Planta 199: 612-617, 1996); Chan et al. (Plant Mol Biol 22 (3): 491-506, 1993), Hiei et al. (Plant J 6 (2): 271-282, 1994), which disclosures are incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth. In the case of corn transformation, the preferred method is as described in either Ishida et al. (Nat. Biotechnol 14(6): 745-50, 1996) or Frame et al. (Plant Physiol 129(1): 13-22, 2002), which disclosures are incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth. Said methods are further described by way of example in B. Jenes et al., Techniques for Gene Transfer, in: Transgenic Plants, Vol. 1, Engineering and Utilization, eds. S. D. Kung and R. Wu, Academic Press (1993) 128-143 and in Potrykus Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Molec. Biol. 42 (1991) 205-225). The nucleic acid sequences or the construct to be expressed is preferably cloned into a vector, which is suitable for transforming Agrobacterium tumefaciens, for example pBin19 (Bevan et al., Nucl. Acids Res. 12 (1984) 8711). Agrobacteria transformed by such a vector can then be used in known manner for the transformation of plants, such as plants used as a model, like Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana is within the scope of the present invention not considered as a crop plant), or crop plants such as, by way of example, tobacco plants, for example by immersing bruised leaves or chopped leaves in an agrobacterial solution and then culturing them in suitable media. The transformation of plants by means of Agrobacterium tumefaciens is described, for example, by Höfgen and Willmitzer in Nucl. Acid Res. (1988) 16, 9877 or is known inter alia from F. F. White, Vectors for Gene Transfer in Higher Plants; in Transgenic Plants, Vol. 1, Engineering and Utilization, eds. S. D. Kung and R. Wu, Academic Press, 1993, pp. 15-38.

In addition to the transformation of somatic cells, which then have to be regenerated into intact plants, it is also possible to transform the cells of plant meristems and in particular those cells which develop into gametes. In this case, the transformed gametes follow the natural plant development, giving rise to transgenic plants. Thus, for example, seeds of Arabidopsis are treated with agrobacteria and seeds are obtained from the developing plants of which a certain proportion is transformed and thus transgenic [Feldman, K A and Marks M D (1987). Mol Gen Genet 208:274-289; Feldmann K (1992). In: C Koncz, N-H Chua and J Shell, eds, Methods in Arabidopsis Research. Word Scientific, Singapore, pp. 274-289]. Alternative methods are based on the repeated removal of the inflorescences and incubation of the excision site in the center of the rosette with transformed agrobacteria, whereby transformed seeds can likewise be obtained at a later moment in time (Chang (1994). Plant J. 5: 551-558; Katavic (1994). Mol Gen Genet, 245: 363-370). However, an especially effective method is the vacuum infiltration method with its modifications such as the “floral dip” method. In the case of vacuum infiltration of Arabidopsis, intact plants under reduced pressure are treated with an agrobacterial suspension [Bechthold, N (1993). C R Acad Sci Paris Life Sci, 316: 1194-1199], while in the case of the “floral dip” method the developing floral tissue is incubated briefly with a surfactant-treated agrobacterial suspension [Clough, S J and Bent A F (1998) The Plant J. 16, 735-743]. A certain proportion of transgenic seeds are harvested in both cases, and these seeds can be distinguished from non-transgenic seeds by growing under the above-described selective conditions. In addition the stable transformation of plastids is of advantages because plastids are inherited maternally is most crops reducing or eliminating the risk of transgene flow through pollen. The transformation of the chloroplast genome is generally achieved by a process which has been schematically displayed in Klaus et al., 2004 [Nature Biotechnology 22 (2), 225-229]. Briefly the sequences to be transformed are cloned together with a selectable marker gene between flanking sequences homologous to the chloroplast genome. These homologous flanking sequences direct site specific integration into the plastome. Plastidal transformation has been described for many different plant species and an overview is given in Bock (2001) Transgenic plastids in basic research and plant biotechnology. J Mol Biol. 2001 Sep. 21; 312 (3):425-38 or Maliga, P (2003) Progress towards commercialization of plastid transformation technology. Trends Biotechnol. 21, 20-28. Further biotechnological progress has recently been reported in form of marker free plastid transformants, which can be produced by a transient co-integrated maker gene (Klaus et al., 2004, Nature Biotechnology 22(2), 225-229).

T-DNA Activation Taming

T-DNA activation tagging (Hayashi et al. Science (1992) 1350-1353), involves insertion of T-DNA, usually containing a promoter (may also be a translation enhancer or an intron), in the genomic region of the gene of interest or 10 kb up- or downstream of the coding region of a gene in a configuration such that the promoter directs expression of the targeted gene. Typically, regulation of expression of the targeted gene by its natural promoter is disrupted and the gene falls under the control of the newly introduced promoter. The promoter is typically embedded in a T-DNA. This T-DNA is randomly inserted into the plant genome, for example, through Agrobacterium infection and leads to modified expression of genes near the inserted T-DNA. The resulting transgenic plants show dominant phenotypes due to modified expression of genes close to the introduced promoter.

Tilling

The term “TILLING” is an abbreviation of “Targeted Induced Local Lesions In Genomes” and refers to a mutagenesis technology useful to generate and/or identify nucleic acid sequences encoding proteins with modified expression and/or activity. TILLING also allows selection of plants carrying such mutant variants. These mutant variants may exhibit modified expression, either in strength or in location or in timing (if the mutations affect the promoter for example). These mutant variants may exhibit higher activity than that exhibited by the gene in its natural form. TILLING combines high-density mutagenesis with high-throughput screening methods. The steps typically followed in TILLING are: (a) EMS mutagenesis (Redei G P and Koncz C (1992) In Methods in Arabidopsis Research, Koncz C, Chua N H, Schell J, eds. Singapore, World Scientific Publishing Co, pp. 16-82; Feldmann et al., (1994) In Meyerowitz E M, Somerville C R, eds, Arabidopsis. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., pp 137-172; Lightner J and Caspar T (1998) In J Martinez-Zapater, J Salinas, eds, Methods on Molecular Biology, Vol. 82. Humana Press, Totowa, N.J., pp 91-104); (b) DNA preparation and pooling of individuals; (c) PCR amplification of a region of interest; (d) denaturation and annealing to allow formation of heteroduplexes; (e) DHPLC, where the presence of a heteroduplex in a pool is detected as an extra peak in the chromatogram; (f) identification of the mutant individual; and (g) sequencing of the mutant PCR product. Methods for TILLING are well known in the art (McCallum et al., (2000) Nat Biotechnol 18: 455-457; reviewed by Stemple (2004) Nat Rev Genet. 5(2): 145-50).

Homologous Recombination

Homologous recombination allows introduction in a genome of a selected nucleic acid sequence at a defined selected position. Homologous recombination is a standard technology used routinely in biological sciences for lower organisms such as yeast or the moss Physcomitrella. Methods for performing homologous recombination in plants have been described not only for model plants (Offring a et al. (1990) EMBO J 9(10): 3077-84) but also for crop plants, for example rice (Terada et al. (2002) Nat Biotech 20(10): 1030-4; Iida and Terada (2004) Curr Opin Biotech 15(2): 132-8); Terada et al., (2007) Plant Physiol).

Yield

The term “yield” in general means a measurable produce of economic value, typically related to a specified crop, to an area, and to a period of time. Individual plant parts directly contribute to yield based on their number, size and/or weight, or the actual yield is the yield per acre for a crop and year, which is determined by dividing total production (includes both harvested and appraised production) by planted acres. The term “yield” of a plant may relate to vegetative biomass (root and/or shoot biomass), to reproductive organs, and/or to propagules (such as seeds) of that plant.

Early Vigour

“Early vigour” refers to active healthy well-balanced growth especially during early stages of plant growth, and may result from increased plant fitness due to, for example, the plants being better adapted to their environment (i.e. optimizing the use of energy resources and partitioning between shoot and root). Plants having early vigour also show increased seedling survival and a better establishment of the crop, which often results in highly uniform fields (with the crop growing in uniform manner, i.e. with the majority of plants reaching the various stages of development at substantially the same time), and often better and higher yield. Therefore, early vigour may be determined by measuring various factors, such as thousand kernel weight, percentage germination, percentage emergence, seedling growth, seedling height, root length, root and shoot biomass and many more.

Increase/Improve/Enhance

The terms “increase”, “improve” or “enhance” are interchangeable and shall mean in the sense of the application at least a 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9% or 10%, preferably at least 15% or 20%, more preferably 25%, 30%, 35% or 40% more yield and/or growth in comparison to control plants as defined herein.

Seed Yield

Increased seed yield may manifest itself as one or more of the following: a) an increase in seed biomass (total seed weight) which may be on an individual seed basis and/or per plant and/or per hectare or acre; b) increased number of flowers per plant; c) increased number of (filled) seeds; d) increased seed filling rate (which is expressed as the ratio between the number of filled seeds divided by the total number of seeds); e) increased harvest index, which is expressed as a ratio of the yield of harvestable parts, such as seeds, divided by the total biomass; and f) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW), which is extrapolated from the number of filled seeds counted and their total weight. An increased TKW may result from an increased seed size and/or seed weight, and may also result from an increase in embryo and/or endosperm size.

An increase in seed yield may also be manifested as an increase in seed size and/or seed volume. Furthermore, an increase in seed yield may also manifest itself as an increase in seed area and/or seed length and/or seed width and/or seed perimeter. Increased yield may also result in modified architecture, or may occur because of modified architecture.

Greenness Index

The “greenness index” as used herein is calculated from digital images of plants. For each pixel belonging to the plant object on the image, the ratio of the green value versus the red value (in the RGB model for encoding color) is calculated. The greenness index is expressed as the percentage of pixels for which the green-to-red ratio exceeds a given threshold. Under normal growth conditions, under salt stress growth conditions, and under reduced nutrient availability growth conditions, the greenness index of plants is measured in the last imaging before flowering. In contrast, under drought stress growth conditions, the greenness index of plants is measured in the first imaging after drought.

Plant

The term “plant” as used herein encompasses whole plants, ancestors and progeny of the plants and plant parts, including seeds, shoots, stems, leaves, roots (including tubers), flowers, and tissues and organs, wherein each of the aforementioned comprise the gene/nucleic acid sequence of interest. The term “plant” also encompasses plant cells, suspension cultures, callus tissue, embryos, meristematic regions, gametophytes, sporophytes, pollen and microspores, again wherein each of the aforementioned comprises the gene/nucleic acid sequence of interest.

Plants that are particularly useful in the methods of the invention include all plants which belong to the superfamily Viridiplantae, in particular monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants including fodder or forage legumes, ornamental plants, food crops, trees or shrubs selected from the list comprising Acer spp., Actinidia spp., Abelmoschus spp., Agave sisalana, Agropyron spp., Agrostis stolonifera, Allium spp., Amaranthus spp., Ammophila arenaria, Ananas comosus, Annona spp., Apium graveolens, Arachis spp, Artocarpus spp., Asparagus officinalis, Avena spp. (e.g. Avena sativa, Avena fatua, Avena byzantina, Avena fatua var. sativa, Avena hybrida), Averrhoa carambola, Bambusa sp., Benincasa hispida, Bertholletia excelsea, Beta vulgaris, Brassica spp. (e.g. Brassica napus, Brassica rapa ssp. [canola, oilseed rape, turnip rape]), Cadaba farinosa, Camellia sinensis, Canna indica, Cannabis sativa, Capsicum spp., Carex elata, Carica papaya, Carissa macrocarpa, Carya spp., Carthamus tinctorius, Castanea spp., Ceiba pentandra, Cichorium endivia, Cinnamomum spp., Citrullus lanatus, Citrus spp., Cocos spp., Coffea spp., Colocasia esculenta, Cola spp., Corchorus sp., Coriandrum sativum, Corylus spp., Crataegus spp., Crocus sativus, Cucurbita spp., Cucumis spp., Cynara spp., Daucus carota, Desmodium spp., Dimocarpus longan, Dioscorea spp., Diospyros spp., Echinochloa spp., Elaeis (e.g. Elaeis guineensis, Elaeis oleifera), Eleusine coracana, Erianthus sp., Eriobotrya japonica, Eucalyptus sp., Eugenia uniflora, Fagopyrum spp., Fagus spp., Festuca arundinacea, Ficus carica, Fortunella spp., Fragaria spp., Ginkgo biloba, Glycine spp. (e.g. Glycine max, Soja hispida or Soja max), Gossypium hirsutum, Helianthus spp. (e.g. Helianthus annuus), Hemerocallis fulva, Hibiscus spp., Hordeum spp. (e.g. Hordeum vulgare), Ipomoea batatas, Juglans spp., Lactuca sativa, Lathyrus spp., Lens culinaris, Linum usitatissimum, Litchi chinensis, Lotus spp., Luffa acutangula, Lupinus spp., Luzula sylvatica, Lycopersicon spp. (e.g. Lycopersicon esculentum, Lycopersicon lycopersicum, Lycopersicon pyriforme), Macrotyloma spp., Malus spp., Malpighia emarginata, Mammea americana, Mangifera indica, Manihot spp., Manilkara zapota, Medicago sativa, Melilotus spp., Mentha spp., Miscanthus sinensis, Momordica spp., Morus nigra, Musa spp., Nicotiana spp., Olea spp., Opuntia spp., Ornithopus spp., Oryza spp. (e.g. Oryza sativa, Oryza latifolia), Panicum miliaceum, Panicum virgatum, Passiflora edulis, Pastinaca sativa, Pennisetum sp., Persea spp., Petroselinum crispum, Phalaris arundinacea, Phaseolus spp., Phleum pratense, Phoenix spp., Phragmites australis, Physalis spp., Pinus spp., Pistacia vera, Pisum spp., Poa spp., Populus spp., Prosopis spp., Prunus spp., Psidium spp., Punica granatum, Pyrus communis, Quercus spp., Raphanus sativus, Rheum rhabarbarum, Ribes spp., Ricinus communis, Rubus spp., Saccharum spp., Salix sp., Sambucus spp., Secale cereale, Sesamum spp., Sinapis sp., Solanum spp. (e.g. Solanum tuberosum, Solanum integrifolium or Solanum lycopersicum), Sorghum bicolor, Spinacia spp., Syzygium spp., Tagetes spp., Tamarindus indica, Theobroma cacao, Trifolium spp., Triticosecale rimpaui, Triticale (Triticum secale), Triticum spp. (e.g. Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum, Triticum turgidum, Triticum hybernum, Triticum macha, Triticum sativum or Triticum vulgare), Tropaeolum minus, Tropaeolum majus, Vaccinium spp., Vicia spp., Vigna spp., Viola odorata, Vitis spp., Zea mays, Zizania palustris, Ziziphus spp., amongst others.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 1. 2-Cysteine Peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX)

Surprisingly, it has now been found that modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide gives plants having enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants. According to a first embodiment, the present invention provides a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants relative to control plants, comprising modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide.

A preferred method for modulating, preferably increasing, expression of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is by introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide.

Any reference hereinafter to a “protein useful in the methods of the invention” is taken to mean a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined herein. Any reference hereinafter to a “nucleic acid sequence useful in the methods of the invention” is taken to mean a nucleic acid sequence capable of encoding such a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide. The nucleic acid sequence to be introduced into a plant (and therefore useful in performing the methods of the invention) is any nucleic acid sequence encoding the type of polypeptide, which will now be described, hereafter also named “2-Cys PRX nucleic acid sequence” or “2-Cys PRX gene”.

A “2-Cys PRX polypeptide” as defined herein refers to any polypeptide comprising from N-terminus to C-terminus: (1) a plastidic transit peptide; and (2) a 2-Cys PRX conserved domain.

Additionally, a “2-Cys PRX polypeptide” comprises one or both of: (i) Motif1 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 77, or a motif having at least 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% or more amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 77; or (ii) Motif 2 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 78, or a motif having at least 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% or more amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 78.

Alternatively or additionally, a “2-Cys PRX polypeptide” as defined herein refers to any polypeptide sequence which when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 3, tends to cluster with the 2-Cys PRX clade of polypeptides comprising the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, rather than with any other PRX clade.

Alternatively or additionally, a “2-Cys PRX polypeptide” as defined herein refers to any polypeptide having in increasing order of preference at least 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity to the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 or to any of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 herein.

The term “domain” and “motif” is defined in the “definitions” section herein. Specialist databases exist for the identification of domains, for example, SMART (Schultz et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 5857-5864; Letunic et al. (2002) Nucleic Acids Res 30, 242-244, InterPro (Mulder et al., (2003) Nucl. Acids. Res. 31, 315-318, Prosite (Bucher and Bairoch (1994), A generalized profile syntax for biomolecular sequences motifs and its function in automatic sequence interpretation. (In) ISMB-94; Proceedings 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. Altman R., Brutlag D., Karp P., Lathrop R., Searls D., Eds., pp 53-61, AAAI Press, Menlo Park; Hulo et al., Nucl. Acids. Res. 32:D134-D137, (2004), or Pfam (Bateman et al., Nucleic Acids Research 30(1): 276-280 (2002). A set of tools for in silico analysis of protein sequences is available on the ExPASy proteomics server (Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Gasteiger et al., ExPASy: the proteomics server for in-depth protein knowledge and analysis, Nucleic Acids Res. 31:3784-3788 (2003)). Domains may also be identified using routine techniques, such as by sequence alignment. Analysis of the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 is presented below in Examples 2 and 4.

Methods for the alignment of sequences for comparison are well known in the art, such methods include GAP, BESTFIT, BLAST, FASTA and TFASTA. GAP uses the algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch ((1970) J Mol Biol 48: 443-453) to find the global (i.e. spanning the complete sequences) alignment of two sequences that maximizes the number of matches and minimizes the number of gaps. The BLAST algorithm (Altschul et al. (1990) J Mol Biol 215: 403-10) calculates percent sequence identity and performs a statistical analysis of the similarity between the two sequences. The software for performing BLAST analysis is publicly available through the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Homologues may readily be identified using, for example, the ClustalW multiple sequence alignment algorithm (version 1.83), with the default pairwise alignment parameters, and a scoring method in percentage. Global percentages of similarity and identity may also be determined using one of the methods available in the MatGAT software package (Campanella et al., BMC Bioinformatics. 2003 Jul. 10; 4:29. MatGAT: an application that generates similarity/identity matrices using protein or DNA sequences.). Minor manual editing may be performed to optimise alignment between conserved motifs, as would be apparent to a person skilled in the art. Furthermore, instead of using full-length sequences for the identification of homologues, specific domains may also be used. The sequence identity values, which are indicated below in Example 3 as a percentage were determined over the entire nucleic acid sequence or polypeptide sequence (Table A2 herein), but may also be determined over selected domains or conserved motif(s) (such as Motif 1 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 77, and such as Motif 2 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 78, both Motif1 and Motif2 comprised in SEQ ID NO: 2), using the programs mentioned above using the default parameters.

The task of protein subcellular localisation prediction is important and well studied. Knowing a protein's localisation helps elucidate its function. Experimental methods for protein localization range from immunolocalization to tagging of proteins using green fluorescent protein (GFP). Such methods are accurate although labor-intensive compared with computational methods. Recently much progress has been made in computational prediction of protein localisation from sequence data. Among algorithms well known to a person skilled in the art are available at the ExPASy Proteomics tools hosted by the Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics, for example, PSort, TargetP, ChloroP, Predotar, LipoP, MITOPROT, PATS, PTS1, SignalP and others. The identification of subcellular localisation of the polypeptide of the invention is shown in Example 5. In particular SEQ ID NO: 2 of the present invention is assigned to the plastidic (chloroplastic) compartment of photosynthetic (autotrophic) cells.

Methods for targeting proteins to plastids are well known in the art and include the use of transit peptides. Table 3 below shows examples of transit peptides which can be used to target any 2-Cys PRX polypeptide to a plastid, which 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is not, in its natural form, normally targeted to a plastid, or which 2-Cys PRX polypeptide in its natural form is targeted to a plastid by virtue of a different transit peptide (for example, its natural transit peptide). For example, a nucleic acid sequence encoding a cyanobacterial 2-Cys PRX polypeptide may also be suitable for use in the methods of the invention as long as the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is targeted to a plastid, preferably to a chloroplast.

TABLE 3 Examples of transit peptide sequences useful in targeting polypeptides to plastids NCBI Accession Number Source Organism Protein Function Transit Peptide Sequence SEQ ID NO P07839 Chlamydomonas Ferredoxin MAMAMRSTFAARVGAKPAVRGARPA 156 SRMSCMA AAR23425 Chlamydomonas Rubisco activase MQVTMKSSAVSGQRVGGARVATRSV 157 RRAQLQV CAA56932 Arabidopsis thaliana Aspartate amino MASLMLSLGSTSLLPREINKDKLKLGTS 158 transferase ASNPFLKAKSFSRVTMTVAVKPSR CAA31991 Arabidopsis thaliana Acyl carrier protein1 MATQFSASVSLQTSCLATTRISFQKPA 159 LISNHGKTNLSFNLRRSIPSRRLSVSC CAB63798 Arabidopsis thaliana Acyl carrier protein2 MASIAASASISLQARPRQLAIAASQVKS 160 FSNGRRSSLSFNLRQLPTRLTVSCAAK PETVDKVCAVVRKQL CAB63799 Arabidopsis thaliana Acyl carrier protein3 MASIATSASTSLQARPRQLVIGAKQVK 161 SFSYGSRSNLSFNLRQLPTRLTVYCAA KPETVDKVCAWRKQLSLKE

A 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is targeted and active in the plastid, i.e., the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide (at least in its native form) is capable of catalyzing the removal of H₂O₂, in the chloroplast. Assays for testing this activity are well known in the art. Further details are provided in Example 6.

The present invention is illustrated by transforming plants with the nucleic acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, encoding the polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. However, performance of the invention is not restricted to these sequences; the methods of the invention may advantageously be performed using any 2-Cys PRX-encoding nucleic acid sequence or 2-Cys PRX polypeptide sequence as defined herein.

Examples of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides are given in Table A1 of Example 1 herein. Such nucleic acid sequences are useful in performing the methods of the invention. The polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1 are example sequences of orthologues and paralogues of the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, the terms “orthologues” and “paralogues” being as defined herein. Further orthologues and paralogues may readily be identified by performing a so-called reciprocal blast search. Typically, this involves a first BLAST involving BLASTing a query sequence (for example using any of the sequences listed in Table A1 of Example 1) against any sequence database, such as the publicly available NCBI database. BLASTN or TBLASTX (using standard default values) are generally used when starting from a nucleotide sequence, and BLASTP or TBLASTN (using standard default values) when starting from a protein sequence. The BLAST results may optionally be filtered. The full-length sequences of either the filtered results or non-filtered results are then BLASTed back (second BLAST) against sequences from the organism from which the query sequence is derived (where the query sequence is SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2, the second BLAST would therefore be against Brassica sequences). The results of the first and second BLASTs are then compared. A paralogue is identified if a high-ranking hit from the first blast is from the same species as from which the query sequence is derived, a BLAST back then ideally results in the query sequence amongst the highest hits; an orthologue is identified if a high-ranking hit in the first BLAST is not from the same species as from which the query sequence is derived, and preferably results upon BLAST back in the query sequence being among the highest hits.

High-ranking hits are those having a low E-value. The lower the E-value, the more significant the score (or in other words the lower the chance that the hit was found by chance). Computation of the E-value is well known in the art. In addition to E-values, comparisons are also scored by percentage identity. Percentage identity refers to the number of identical nucleotides (or amino acids) between the two compared nucleic acid (or polypeptide) sequences over a particular length. In the case of large families, ClustalW may be used, followed by a neighbour joining tree, to help visualize clustering of related genes and to identify orthologues and paralogues (see FIG. 3).

Nucleic acid variants may also be useful in practising the methods of the invention. Examples of such variants include nucleic acid sequences encoding homologues and derivatives of any one of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, the terms “homologue” and “derivative” being as defined herein. Also useful in the methods of the invention are nucleic acid sequences encoding homologues and derivatives of orthologues or paralogues of any one of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1. Homologues and derivatives useful in the methods of the present invention have substantially the same biological and functional activity as the unmodified protein from which they are derived.

Further nucleic acid variants useful in practising the methods of the invention include portions of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides, nucleic acid sequences hybridising to nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides, splice variants of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides, allelic variants of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides and variants of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides obtained by gene shuffling. The terms hybridising sequence, splice variant, allelic variant and gene shuffling are as described herein.

Nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides need not be full-length nucleic acid sequences, since performance of the methods of the invention does not rely on the use of full-length nucleic acid sequences. According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a portion of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or a portion of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1.

A portion of a nucleic acid sequence may be prepared, for example, by making one or more deletions to the nucleic acid sequence. The portions may be used in isolated form or they may be fused to other coding (or non-coding) sequences in order to, for example, produce a protein that combines several activities. When fused to other coding sequences, the resultant polypeptide produced upon translation may be bigger than that predicted for the protein portion.

Portions useful in the methods of the invention, encode a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined herein, and have substantially the same biological activity as the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1. Preferably, the portion is a portion of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or is a portion of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1. Preferably the portion is at least 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, consecutive nucleotides in length, the consecutive nucleotides being of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1. Most preferably the portion is a portion of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. Preferably, the portion encodes a polypeptide sequence which when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 3, tends to cluster with the group of 2-Cys PRX polypeptides comprising the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 rather than with any other group.

Another nucleic acid variant useful in the methods of the invention is a nucleic acid sequence capable of hybridising, under reduced stringency conditions, preferably under stringent conditions, with a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined herein, or with a portion as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a nucleic acid sequence capable of hybridizing to any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a nucleic acid sequence capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1.

Hybridising sequences useful in the methods of the invention encode a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined herein, having substantially the same biological activity as the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1. Preferably, the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or to a portion of any of these sequences, a portion being as defined above, or the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1. Most preferably, the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 or to a portion thereof.

Preferably, the hybridising sequence encodes a polypeptide sequence which when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 3, tends to cluster with the group of 2-Cys PRX polypeptides comprising the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 rather than with any other group.

Another nucleic acid variant useful in the methods of the invention is a splice variant encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined hereinabove, a splice variant being as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a splice variant of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or a splice variant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1.

Preferred splice variants are splice variants of a nucleic acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, or a splice variant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue or paralogue of SEQ ID NO: 2. Preferably, the polypeptide sequence encoded by the splice variant, when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 3, tends to cluster with the group of 2-Cys PRX polypeptides comprising the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 rather than with any other group.

Another nucleic acid variant useful in performing the methods of the invention is an allelic variant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined hereinabove, an allelic variant being as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, an allelic variant of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, an allelic variant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1.

The allelic variants useful in the methods of the present invention have substantially the same biological activity as the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 2 and any of the polypeptide sequences depicted in Table A1 of Example 1. Allelic variants exist in nature, and encompassed within the methods of the present invention is the use of these natural alleles. Preferably, the allelic variant is an allelic variant of SEQ ID NO: 1 or an allelic variant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue or paralogue of SEQ ID NO: 2. Preferably, the polypeptide sequence encoded by the allelic variant, when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 3, tends to cluster with the 2-Cys PRX polypeptides comprising the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 rather than with any other group.

Gene shuffling or directed evolution may also be used to generate variants of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides as defined above; the term “gene shuffling” being as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a variant of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, or comprising introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a variant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 of Example 1, which variant nucleic acid sequence is obtained by gene shuffling.

Preferably, the polypeptide sequence encoded by the variant nucleic acid sequence obtained by gene shuffling, when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree such as the one depicted in FIG. 3, tends to cluster with the group of 2-Cys PRX polypeptides comprising the polypeptide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 rather than with any other group.

Furthermore, nucleic acid variants may also be obtained by site-directed mutagenesis. Several methods are available to achieve site-directed mutagenesis, the most common being PCR based methods (Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Wiley Eds.).

Nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides may be from a natural source, such as from eubacteria and eukaryotes (fungi, plants, or animals). The nucleic acid sequence derived from any artificial source, or may be modified from its native form in composition and/or genomic environment through deliberate human manipulation. Preferably the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid sequence is from a plant, further preferably from a dicotyledonous plant, more preferably from the family Brassicaceae, most preferably the nucleic acid sequence is from Brassica rapa.

Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having enhanced yield-related traits. In particular performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having increased yield, especially increased seed yield relative to control plants. The terms “yield” and “seed yield” are described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein.

Reference herein to enhanced yield-related traits is taken to mean an increase in biomass (weight) of one or more parts of a plant, which may include aboveground (harvestable) parts and/or (harvestable) parts below ground. In particular, such harvestable parts are seeds, and performance of the methods of the invention results in plants having increased seed yield relative to the seed yield of control plants.

Taking corn as an example, a yield increase may be manifested as one or more of the following: increase in the number of plants established per hectare or acre, an increase in the number of ears per plant, an increase in the number of rows, number of kernels per row, kernel weight, thousand kernel weight, ear length/diameter, increase in the seed filling rate (which is the number of filled seeds divided by the total number of seeds and multiplied by 100), among others. Taking rice as an example, a yield increase may manifest itself as an increase in one or more of the following: number of plants per hectare or acre, number of panicles per plant, number of spikelets per panicle, number of flowers (florets) per panicle (which is expressed as a ratio of the number of filled seeds over the number of primary panicles), increase in the seed filling rate (which is the number of filled seeds divided by the total number of seeds and multiplied by 100), increase in thousand kernel weight, among others.

The present invention provides a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, especially seed yield of plants, relative to control plants, which method comprises modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined herein.

Since the transgenic plants according to the present invention have enhanced yield-related traits, it is likely that these plants exhibit an increased growth rate (during at least part of their life cycle), relative to the growth rate of control plants at a corresponding stage in their life cycle.

The increased growth rate may be specific to one or more parts of a plant (including seeds), or may be throughout substantially the whole plant. Plants having an increased growth rate may have a shorter life cycle. The life cycle of a plant may be taken to mean the time needed to grow from a dry mature seed up to the stage where the plant has produced dry mature seeds, similar to the starting material. This life cycle may be influenced by factors such as early vigour, growth rate, greenness index, flowering time and speed of seed maturation. The increase in growth rate may take place at one or more stages in the life cycle of a plant or during substantially the whole plant life cycle. Increased growth rate during the early stages in the life cycle of a plant may reflect enhanced vigour. The increase in growth rate may alter the harvest cycle of a plant allowing plants to be sown later and/or harvested sooner than would otherwise be possible (a similar effect may be obtained with earlier flowering time). If the growth rate is sufficiently increased, it may allow for the further sowing of seeds of the same plant species (for example sowing and harvesting of rice plants followed by sowing and harvesting of further rice plants all within one conventional growing period). Similarly, if the growth rate is sufficiently increased, it may allow for the further sowing of seeds of different plants species (for example the sowing and harvesting of corn plants followed by, for example, the sowing and optional harvesting of soybean, potato or any other suitable plant). Harvesting additional times from the same rootstock in the case of some crop plants may also be possible. Altering the harvest cycle of a plant may lead to an increase in annual biomass production per acre (due to an increase in the number of times (say in a year) that any particular plant may be grown and harvested). An increase in growth rate may also allow for the cultivation of transgenic plants in a wider geographical area than their wild-type counterparts, since the territorial limitations for growing a crop are often determined by adverse environmental conditions either at the time of planting (early season) or at the time of harvesting (late season). Such adverse conditions may be avoided if the harvest cycle is shortened. The growth rate may be determined by deriving various parameters from growth curves, such parameters may be: T-Mid (the time taken for plants to reach 50% of their maximal size) and T-90 (time taken for plants to reach 90% of their maximal size), amongst others.

According to a preferred feature of the present invention, performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having an increased growth rate relative to control plants. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for increasing the growth rate of plants, which method comprises modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined herein.

An increase in yield and/or growth rate occurs whether the plant is under non-stress conditions or whether the plant is exposed to various stresses compared to control plants. Plants typically respond to exposure to stress by growing more slowly. In conditions of severe stress, the plant may even stop growing altogether. Mild stress on the other hand is defined herein as being any stress to which a plant is exposed which does not result in the plant ceasing to grow altogether without the capacity to resume growth. Mild stress in the sense of the invention leads to a reduction in the growth of the stressed plants of less than 40%, 35% or 30%, preferably less than 25%, 20% or 15%, more preferably less than 14%, 13%, 12%, 11% or 10% or less in comparison to the control plant under non-stress conditions. Due to advances in agricultural practices (irrigation, fertilization, pesticide treatments) severe stresses are not often encountered in cultivated crop plants. As a consequence, the compromised growth induced by mild stress is often an undesirable feature for agriculture. Mild stresses are the everyday biotic and/or abiotic (environmental) stresses to which a plant is exposed. Abiotic stresses may be due to drought or excess water, anaerobic stress, salt stress, chemical toxicity, oxidative stress and hot, cold or freezing temperatures. The abiotic stress may be an osmotic stress caused by a water stress (particularly due to drought), salt stress, oxidative stress or an ionic stress. Biotic stresses are typically those stresses caused by pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and insects.

In particular, the methods of the present invention may be performed under non-stress conditions or under conditions of mild drought to give plants having enhanced yield-related tarits relative to control plants grown under comparable conditions. As reported in Wang et al. (Planta (2003) 218: 1-14), abiotic stress leads to a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that adversely affect plant growth and productivity. Drought, salinity, extreme temperatures and oxidative stress are known to be interconnected and may induce growth and cellular damage through similar mechanisms. Rabbani et al. (Plant Physiol (2003) 133: 1755-1767) describes a particularly high degree of “cross talk” between drought stress and high-salinity stress. For example, drought and/or salinisation are manifested primarily as osmotic stress, resulting in the disruption of homeostasis and ion distribution in the cell. Oxidative stress, which frequently accompanies high or low temperature, salinity or drought stress, may cause denaturing of functional and structural proteins. As a consequence, these diverse environmental stresses often activate similar cell signalling pathways and cellular responses, such as the production of stress proteins, up-regulation of anti-oxidants, accumulation of compatible solutes and growth arrest. The term “non-stress” conditions as used herein are those environmental conditions that allow optimal growth of plants. Persons skilled in the art are aware of normal soil conditions and climatic conditions for a given location.

Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants grown under non-stress conditions or under mild drought conditions enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants grown under comparable conditions. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhanced yield-related traits in plants grown under non-stress conditions or under mild drought conditions, which method comprises modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots a plant of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide.

Performance of the methods according to the present invention results in plants grown under abiotic stress conditions having enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants grown under comparable stress conditions. As reported in Wang et al. (Planta (2003) 218: 1-14), abiotic stress leads to a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that adversely affect plant growth and productivity. Drought, salinity, extreme temperatures and oxidative stress are known to be interconnected and may induce growth and cellular damage through similar mechanisms. For example, drought and/or salinisation are manifested primarily as osmotic stress, resulting in the disruption of homeostasis and ion distribution in the cell. Oxidative stress, which frequently accompanies high or low temperature, salinity or drought stress may cause denaturation of functional and structural proteins. As a consequence, these diverse environmental stresses often activate similar cell signaling pathways and cellular responses, such as the production of stress proteins, up-regulation of anti-oxidants, accumulation of compatible solutes and growth arrest. Since diverse environmental stresses activate similar pathways, the exemplification of the present invention with drought stress should not be seen as a limitation to drought stress, but more as a screen to indicate the involvement of 2-Cys PRX polypeptides as defined above, in enhancing yield-related traits relative to control plants grown in comparable stress conditions, in abiotic stresses in general.

A particularly high degree of “cross talk” is reported between drought stress and high-salinity stress (Rabbani et al. (2003) Plant Physiol 133: 1755-1767). Therefore, it would be apparent that a 2-Cys PRX polypeptides would, along with its usefulness in enhancing yield-related traits in plants, relative to control plants grown under drought stress conditions, also find use in enhancing yield-related traits in plants, relative to control plants grown under various other abiotic stress conditions.

The term “abiotic stress” as defined herein is taken to mean any one or more of: water stress (due to drought or excess water), anaerobic stress, salt stress, temperature stress (due to hot, cold or freezing temperatures), chemical toxicity stress and oxidative stress. According to one aspect of the invention, the abiotic stress is an osmotic stress, selected from water stress, salt stress, oxidative stress and ionic stress. Preferably, the water stress is drought stress. The term salt stress is not restricted to common salt (NaCl), but may be any stress caused by one or more of: NaCl, KCl, LiCl, MgCl₂, CaCl₂, amongst others.

In particular, the enhanced yield-related traits in plants grown under abiotic stress conditions (preferably under drought stress conditions) relative to control plants grown in comparable stress conditions, may include one or more of the following: (i) improved early vigour; (ii) increased aboveground biomass; (iii) increased root (thick and thin) biomass; (iv) increase number of flowers per panicle; (v) increased seed fill rate; (vi) increased total seed yield per plant; (vii) increased number of (filled) seeds; (viii) increased harvest index; or (ix) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW).

Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having enhanced yield-related traits under abiotic stress conditions relative to control plants grown in comparable stress conditions. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants grown under abiotic stress conditions, which method comprises modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide. According to one aspect of the invention, the abiotic stress is an osmotic stress, selected from one or more of the following: water stress, salt stress, oxidative stress and ionic stress. Preferably, the water stress is drought stress.

Another example of abiotic environmental stress is the reduced availability of one or more nutrients that need to be assimilated by the plants for growth and development. Because of the strong influence of nutrition utilization efficiency on plant yield and product quality, a huge amount of fertilizer is poured onto fields to optimize plant growth and quality. Productivity of plants ordinarily is limited by three primary nutrients, phosphorous, potassium and nitrogen, which is usually the rate-limiting element in plant growth of these three. Therefore the major nutritional element required for plant growth is nitrogen (N). It is a constituent of numerous important compounds found in living cells, including amino acids, proteins (enzymes), nucleic acids, and chlorophyll. 1.5% to 2% of plant dry matter is nitrogen and approximately 16% of total plant protein. Thus, nitrogen availability is a major limiting factor for crop plant growth and production (Frink et al. (1999) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96(4): 1175-1180), and has as well a major impact on protein accumulation and amino acid composition. Therefore, of great interest are crop plants with an increased yield when grown under nitrogen-limiting conditions.

Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants grown under conditions of nutrient deficiency, particularly under conditions of nitrogen deficiency, having enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants grown under comparable conditions. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants grown under conditions of nutrient deficiency, which method comprises modulating, preferably increasing, expression in the roots of a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide. Nutrient deficiency may result from a lack or excess of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphates and other phosphorous-containing compounds, potassium, calcium, cadmium, magnesium, manganese, iron and boron, amongst others.

The present invention encompasses plants or parts thereof (including seeds) obtainable by the methods according to the present invention. The plants or parts thereof comprise a nucleic acid transgene encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined above, operably linked to a root-specific promoter.

The invention also provides genetic constructs and vectors to facilitate introduction and/or expression in plants of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides. The gene constructs may be inserted into vectors, which may be commercially available, suitable for transforming into plants and suitable for expression of the gene of interest in the transformed cells. The invention also provides use of a gene construct as defined herein in the methods of the invention.

More specifically, the present invention provides a construct comprising:

-   -   (a) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as         defined above;     -   (b) one or more control sequences capable of driving expression         of the nucleic acid sequence of (a); and optionally     -   (c) a transcription termination sequence.

Preferably, the nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is as defined above. The term “control sequence” and “termination sequence” are as defined herein.

In one embodiment, one of the control sequences of a construct is a organ-specific promoter, preferably a promoter for expression in the roots of a plant. An example of a root-specific promoter is a Rcc3 promoter, for example a rice Rcc3 promoter as represented by SEQ ID NO: 80.

Plants are transformed with a vector comprising any of the nucleic acid sequences described above. The skilled artisan is well aware of the genetic elements that must be present on the vector in order to successfully transform, select and propagate host cells containing the sequence of interest. The sequence of interest is operably linked to one or more control sequences (at least to a promoter).

Advantageously, any type of promoter, whether natural or synthetic, may be used to drive expression of the nucleic acid sequence. According to a preferred feature of the invention, the nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is operably linked to a root-specific promoter. The root-specific promoter is preferably an RCc3 promoter (Plant Mol Biol. 1995 January; 27(2):237-48), more preferably the RCc3 promoter is from rice, further preferably the RCc3 promoter is represented by a nucleic acid sequence substantially similar to SEQ ID NO: 80, most preferably the promoter is as represented by SEQ ID NO: 80. Examples of other root-specific promoters which may also be used to perform the methods of the invention are shown in Table 2b in the “Definitions” section above.

It should be clear that the applicability of the present invention is not restricted to the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1, nor is the applicability of the invention restricted to expression of a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid sequence when driven by a root-specific promoter.

Other organ-specific promoters, for example for preferred expression in leaves, stems, tubers, meristems, seeds (embryo and/or endosperm), are useful in performing the methods of the invention. See the “Definitions” section herein for definitions of the various promoter types.

Optionally, one or more terminator sequences may be used in the construct introduced into a plant. Additional regulatory elements may include transcriptional as well as translational enhancers. Those skilled in the art will be aware of terminator and enhancer sequences that may be suitable for use in performing the invention. An intron sequence may also be added to the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) or in the coding sequence to increase the amount of the mature message that accumulates in the cytosol, as described in the definitions section. Other control sequences (besides promoter, enhancer, silencer, intron sequences, 3′UTR and/or 5′UTR regions) may be protein and/or RNA stabilizing elements. Such sequences would be known or may readily be obtained by a person skilled in the art.

The genetic constructs of the invention may further include an origin of replication sequence that is required for maintenance and/or replication in a specific cell type. One example is when a genetic construct is required to be maintained in a bacterial cell as an episomal genetic element (e.g. plasmid or cosmid molecule). Preferred origins of replication include, but are not limited to, the f1-ori and colE1.

For the detection of the successful transfer of the nucleic acid sequences as used in the methods of the invention and/or selection of transgenic plants comprising these nucleic acid sequences, it is advantageous to use marker genes (or reporter genes). Therefore, the genetic construct may optionally comprise a selectable marker gene. Selectable markers are described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein.

It is known that upon stable or transient integration of nucleic acid sequences into plant cells, only a minority of the cells takes up the foreign DNA and, if desired, integrates it into its genome, depending on the expression vector used and the transfection technique used. To identify and select these integrants, a gene coding for a selectable marker (such as the ones described above) is usually introduced into the host cells together with the gene of interest. These markers can for example be used in mutants in which these genes are not functional by, for example, deletion by conventional methods. Furthermore, nucleic acid molecules encoding a selectable marker can be introduced into a host cell on the same vector that comprises the sequence encoding the polypeptides of the invention or used in the methods of the invention, or else in a separate vector. Cells which have been stably transfected with the introduced nucleic acid sequence can be identified for example by selection (for example, cells which have integrated the selectable marker survive whereas the other cells die). The marker genes may be removed or excised from the transgenic cell once they are no longer needed. Techniques for marker gene removal are known in the art, useful techniques are described above in the definitions section.

The invention also provides a method for the production of transgenic plants having enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants, comprising introduction and expression in the roots of a plant, of any nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined hereinabove.

More specifically, the present invention provides a method for the production of transgenic plants having enhanced yield-related traits, which method comprises:

-   -   (i) introducing and expressing in a plant, plant part, or plant         cell a nucleic acid sequence encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptide,         under the control of a root-specific promoter; and     -   (ii) cultivating the plant cell under conditions promoting plant         growth and development.

The nucleic acid sequence of (i) may be any of the nucleic acid sequences capable of encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined herein.

The nucleic acid sequence may be introduced directly into a plant cell or into the plant itself (including introduction into a tissue, organ or any other part of a plant). According to a preferred feature of the present invention, the nucleic acid sequence is preferably introduced into a plant by transformation. The term “transformation” is described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein.

The genetically modified plant cells can be regenerated via all methods with which the skilled worker is familiar. Suitable methods can be found in the abovementioned publications by S. D. Kung and R. Wu, Potrykus or Höfgen and Willmitzer.

Generally after transformation, plant cells or cell groupings are selected for the presence of one or more markers which are encoded by plant-expressible genes co-transferred with the gene of interest, following which the transformed material is regenerated into a whole plant. To select transformed plants, the plant material obtained in the transformation is, as a rule, subjected to selective conditions so that transformed plants can be distinguished from untransformed plants. For example, the seeds obtained in the above-described manner can be planted and, after an initial growing period, subjected to a suitable selection by spraying. A further possibility consists in growing the seeds, if appropriate after sterilization, on agar plates using a suitable selection agent so that only the transformed seeds can grow into plants. Alternatively, the transformed plants are screened for the presence of a selectable marker such as the ones described above.

Following DNA transfer and regeneration, putatively transformed plants may also be evaluated, for instance using Southern analysis, for the presence of the gene of interest, copy number and/or genomic organisation. Alternatively or additionally, expression levels of the newly introduced DNA may be monitored using Northern and/or Western analysis, both techniques being well known to persons having ordinary skill in the art.

The generated transformed plants may be propagated by a variety of means, such as by clonal propagation or classical breeding techniques. For example, a first generation (or T1) transformed plant may be selfed and homozygous second-generation (or T2) transformants selected, and the T2 plants may then further be propagated through classical breeding techniques. The generated transformed organisms may take a variety of forms. For example, they may be chimeras of transformed cells and non-transformed cells; clonal transformants (e.g., all cells transformed to contain the expression cassette); grafts of transformed and untransformed tissues (e.g., in plants, a transformed rootstock grafted to an untransformed scion).

The present invention clearly extends to any plant cell or plant produced by any of the methods described herein, and to all plant parts and propagules thereof. The present invention extends further to encompass the progeny of a primary transformed or transfected cell, tissue, organ or whole plant that has been produced by any of the aforementioned methods, the only requirement being that progeny exhibit the same genotypic and/or phenotypic characteristic(s) as those produced by the parent in the methods according to the invention.

The invention also includes host cells containing an isolated nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as defined hereinabove. Preferred host cells according to the invention are plant cells. Host plants for the nucleic acid sequences or the vector used in the method according to the invention, the expression cassette or construct or vector are, in principle, advantageously all plants, which are capable of synthesizing the polypeptides used in the inventive method.

The methods of the invention are advantageously applicable to any plant. Plants that are particularly useful in the methods of the invention include all plants which belong to the superfamily Viridiplantae, in particular monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants including fodder or forage legumes, ornamental plants, food crops, trees or shrubs. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plant is a crop plant. Examples of crop plants include soybean, sunflower, canola, alfalfa, rapeseed, cotton, tomato, potato and tobacco. Further preferably, the plant is a monocotyledonous plant. Examples of monocotyledonous plants include sugarcane. More preferably the plant is a cereal. Examples of cereals include rice, maize, wheat, barley, millet, rye, triticale, sorghum and oats.

The invention also extends to harvestable parts of a plant such as, but not limited to seeds, leaves, fruits, flowers, stems, rhizomes, tubers and bulbs. The invention furthermore relates to products derived, preferably directly derived, from a harvestable part of such a plant, such as dry pellets or powders, oil, fat and fatty acids, starch or proteins.

According to a preferred feature of the invention, the modulated expression is increased expression. Methods for increasing expression of nucleic acid sequences or genes, or gene products, are well documented in the art and examples are provided in the definitions section.

As mentioned above, a preferred method for modulating, preferably increasing, expression of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is by introducing and expressing in the roots of a plant, a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide; however the effects of performing the method, i.e. enhancing yield-related traits may also be achieved using other well known techniques, including but not limited to T-DNA activation tagging, TILLING, homologous recombination. A description of these techniques is provided in the definitions section.

The present invention also encompasses use of nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides as described herein and use of these 2-Cys PRX polypeptides in enhancing any of the aforementioned yield-related traits in plants.

Nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptide described herein, or the 2-Cys PRX polypeptides themselves, may find use in breeding programmes in which a DNA marker is identified which may be genetically linked to a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding gene. The genes/nucleic acid sequences, or the 2-Cys PRX polypeptides themselves may be used to define a molecular marker. This DNA or protein marker may then be used in breeding programmes to select plants having enhanced yield-related traits as defined hereinabove in the methods of the invention.

Allelic variants of a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding gene/nucleic acid sequence may also find use in marker-assisted breeding programmes. Such breeding programmes sometimes require introduction of allelic variation by mutagenic treatment of the plants, using for example EMS mutagenesis; alternatively, the programme may start with a collection of allelic variants of so called “natural” origin caused unintentionally. Identification of allelic variants then takes place, for example, by PCR. This is followed by a step for selection of superior allelic variants of the sequence in question and which enhance yield-related traits. Selection is typically carried out by monitoring growth performance of plants containing different allelic variants of the sequence in question. Growth performance may be monitored in a greenhouse or in the field. Further optional steps include crossing plants in which the superior allelic variant was identified with another plant. This could be used, for example, to make a combination of interesting phenotypic features.

Nucleic acid sequences encoding 2-Cys PRX polypeptides may also be used as probes for genetically and physically mapping the genes that they are a part of, and as markers for traits linked to those genes. Such information may be useful in plant breeding in order to develop lines with desired phenotypes. Such use of 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid sequences requires only a nucleic acid sequence of at least 15 nucleotides in length. The 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid sequences may be used as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers. Southern blots (Sambrook J, Fritsch E F and Maniatis T (1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual) of restriction-digested plant genomic DNA may be probed with the 2-Cys PRX-encoding nucleic acid sequences. The resulting banding patterns may then be subjected to genetic analyses using computer programs such as MapMaker (Lander et al. (1987) Genomics 1: 174-181) in order to construct a genetic map. In addition, the nucleic acid sequences may be used to probe Southern blots containing restriction endonuclease-treated genomic DNAs of a set of individuals representing parent and progeny of a defined genetic cross. Segregation of the DNA polymorphisms is noted and used to calculate the position of the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid sequence in the genetic map previously obtained using this population (Botstein et al. (1980) Am. J. Hum. Genet. 32:314-331).

The production and use of plant gene-derived probes for use in genetic mapping is described in Bernatzky and Tanksley (1986) Plant Mol. Biol. Reporter 4: 37-41. Numerous publications describe genetic mapping of specific cDNA clones using the methodology outlined above or variations thereof. For example, F2 intercross populations, backcross populations, randomly mated populations, near isogenic lines, and other sets of individuals may be used for mapping. Such methodologies are well known to those skilled in the art.

The nucleic acid probes may also be used for physical mapping (i.e., placement of sequences on physical maps; see Hoheisel et al. In: Non-mammalian Genomic Analysis: A Practical Guide, Academic press 1996, pp. 319-346, and references cited therein).

In another embodiment, the nucleic acid probes may be used in direct fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) mapping (Trask (1991) Trends Genet. 7:149-154). Although current methods of FISH mapping favour use of large clones (several kb to several hundred kb; see Laan et al. (1995) Genome Res. 5:13-20), improvements in sensitivity may allow performance of FISH mapping using shorter probes.

A variety of nucleic acid amplification-based methods for genetic and physical mapping may be carried out using the nucleic acid sequences. Examples include allele-specific amplification (Kazazian (1989) J. Lab. Clin. Med 11:95-96), polymorphism of PCR-amplified fragments (CAPS; Sheffield et al. (1993) Genomics 16:325-332), allele-specific ligation (Landegren et al. (1988) Science 241:1077-1080), nucleotide extension reactions (Sokolov (1990) Nucleic Acid Res. 18:3671), Radiation Hybrid Mapping (Walter et al. (1997) Nat. Genet. 7:22-28) and Happy Mapping (Dear and Cook (1989) Nucleic Acid Res. 17:6795-6807). For these methods, the sequence of a nucleic acid is used to design and produce primer pairs for use in the amplification reaction or in primer extension reactions. The design of such primers is well known to those skilled in the art. In methods employing PCR-based genetic mapping, it may be necessary to identify DNA sequence differences between the parents of the mapping cross in the region corresponding to the instant nucleic acid sequence. This, however, is generally not necessary for mapping methods.

The methods according to the present invention result in plants having enhanced yield-related traits, as described hereinbefore. These traits may also be combined with other economically advantageous traits, such as further yield-enhancing traits, tolerance to other abiotic and biotic stresses, traits modifying various architectural features and/or biochemical and/or physiological features.

2. Annexin-Like (ANN)

Surprisingly, it has now been found that modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an annexin-like (hereafter named ANN) polypeptide gives plants having enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants. According to a first embodiment, the present invention provides a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants relative to control plants, comprising modulating expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide.

A preferred method for modulating (preferably, increasing) expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide is by introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide.

Any reference hereinafter to a “protein useful in the methods of the invention” is taken to mean an ANN polypeptide as defined herein. Any reference hereinafter to a “nucleic acid useful in the methods of the invention” is taken to mean a nucleic acid capable of encoding such an ANN polypeptide. The nucleic acid to be introduced into a plant (and therefore useful in performing the methods of the invention) is any nucleic acid encoding the type of protein which will now be described, hereafter also named “ANN nucleic acid” or “ANN gene”.

An “ANN polypeptide” as defined herein refers to any polypeptide comprising in its native form (i.e. the protein as it is encoded in the genome) at least one, preferably two or more of the following conserved signature sequences:

Signature sequence 1 (SEQ ID NO: 87) (A/L/V)(M/V/L/I)(L/V/M/I/C)X(W/F)(I/V/M/T/A) (L/P/Y/M/F)(D/E/S/H)(P/A)X(G/S/E/A)RDA wherein X on position 4 may be any amino acid, preferably one of L, S, I, V, Q, or M; and X on position 10 may be any amino acid, preferably one of A, V, P, G, S, T or W.

Preferably, signature sequence 1 is (A/L/V)(V/L/I)(L/V/M/I)X(W/F)(V/T/A)(L/Y/M/F) (D/E/S/H)PX(E/A)RDA Signature sequence 2 (SEQ ID NO: 88): A(F/I/V/C/G)XG(F/R/W/M)G(C/T/V)(D/N)(S/A/T/E)X (T/A/V/L/M)(V/I/L)(I/T)X(I/V/T)L(T/A/G) (H/Q/K)(R/S) wherein X in position 3 may be any amino acid, preferably one of K, R, Q, S, E, A or M; X on position 10 may be any amino acid, preferably one of T, S, K, N, G, D, A, E, Q, or R; X on position 14 may be any amino acid, preferably one of N, A, R, E, D, S, Q,

Preferably, signature sequence 2 is A(F/I/V/C/G)XG(W/M)G(T/V)(D/N)EX(A/L/M)(I/L)(I/T) X(I/V/T)L(A/G)(H/Q/K)(R/S) Signature sequence 3 (SEQ ID NO: 89): (T/S)(D/N/E/T)(D/E/K)XXL(I/T/S/N)R(V/I/A/G) (V/I/F)(V/T/C/S/A)(T/S)R(T/A)(E/D) (I/V/F/L/K/H)(D/S) wherein X on position 4 may be any amino acid, preferably one of S, T, D, E, G, W, N, K; X on position 5 may be any amino acid, preferably one of T, A, S, M, H, D, G, W.

Preferably, signature sequence 3 is (T/S)(D/E/T)(D/E/K)XXL(T/S/N)R(V/I/A/G)(V/I/F) (V/T/C/S/A)(T/S)R(T/A)(E/D)(I/V/F/L/K/H)(D/S) Signature sequence 4 (SEQ ID NO: 90): (Y/H)(F/Y)(A/E/V/S)(K/E/D)(V/A/L/I)(L/V/I) (R/H/D)X(S/A)(M/I/L) Preferably, signature sequence 4 is (Y/H)(F/Y)(A/E/V/S)(K/E/D)(V/L/I)(L/V/I)(R/D) X(S/A)(I/L) Signature sequence 5 (SEQ ID NO: 91): (Y/G/K/S)(L/I/M)E(H/E)(D/H)(I/V/L)(G/A/E) Preferably, signature sequence 5 is S(L/I/M)EE(D/H)(I/V/L)A Signature sequence 6 (SEQ ID NO: 92): (F/L/V/I/T)(I/L/V)(R/Q/Y)(I/V)(F/L/V/I)(T/S/G/A) (E/D/T)RS Preferably, signature sequence 6 is (F/L/V/I/T)(I/L/V)(R/Y)(I/V)(L/V/I)(T/S/G/A)TRS Signature sequence 7 (SEQ ID NO: 93): Y(R/K/M/E/Q)X(F/T/L/M/I)(L/I)(L/I/V)(S/T/V/A) L(V/I/L/A/M)(G/S) wherein X on position 8 may be any amino acid, preferably one of K, E, D, T, L, S, Q, R, N, or A. wherein X on position 3 may be any amino acid, preferably one of T, D, N, K, S, R, A

Since the ANN polypeptide is related to annexins, the ANN polypeptide useful in the methods of the invention preferably also has one or more annexin domains (Pfam entry PF00191, SMART entry SM00335, InterPro IPR001464, see also FIGS. 7 A and 7 B).

Preferably, the polypeptide sequence which when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 8 (taken from Cantero et al., Plant Physiol. Biochem. 44, 13-24, 2006), tends to cluster with the group of ANN polypeptides comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 and SEQ ID NO: 135, rather than with any other group.

The term “domain”, “motif” and “signature” is defined in the “definitions” section herein. Specialist databases exist for the identification of domains, for example, SMART (Schultz et al. (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 5857-5864; Letunic et al. (2002) Nucleic Acids Res 30, 242-244, InterPro (Mulder et al., (2003) Nucl. Acids. Res. 31, 315-318, Prosite (Bucher and Bairoch (1994), A generalized profile syntax for biomolecular sequences motifs and its function in automatic sequence interpretation. (In) ISMB-94; Proceedings 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology. Altman R., Brutlag D., Karp P., Lathrop R., Searls D., Eds., pp 53-61, AAAI Press, Menlo Park; Hulo et al., Nucl. Acids. Res. 32:D134-D137, (2004), or Pfam (Bateman et al., Nucleic Acids Research 30(1): 276-280 (2002). A set of tools for in silico analysis of protein sequences is available on the ExPASy proteomics server (Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (Gasteiger et al., ExPASy: the proteomics server for in-depth protein knowledge and analysis, Nucleic Acids Res. 31:3784-3788 (2003)). Domains may also be identified using routine techniques, such as by sequence alignment.

Methods for the alignment of sequences for comparison are well known in the art, such methods include GAP, BESTFIT, BLAST, FASTA and TFASTA. GAP uses the algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch ((1970) J Mol Biol 48: 443-453) to find the global (i.e. spanning the complete sequences) alignment of two sequences that maximizes the number of matches and minimizes the number of gaps. The BLAST algorithm (Altschul et al. (1990) J Mol Biol 215: 403-10) calculates percent sequence identity and performs a statistical analysis of the similarity between the two sequences. The software for performing BLAST analysis is publicly available through the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Homologues may readily be identified using, for example, the ClustalW multiple sequence alignment algorithm (version 1.83), with the default pairwise alignment parameters, and a scoring method in percentage. Global percentages of similarity and identity may also be determined using one of the methods available in the MatGAT software package (Campanella et al., BMC Bioinformatics. 2003 Jul. 10; 4:29. MatGAT: an application that generates similarity/identity matrices using protein or DNA sequences.). Minor manual editing may be performed to optimise alignment between conserved motifs, as would be apparent to a person skilled in the art. Furthermore, instead of using full-length sequences for the identification of homologues, specific domains may also be used. The sequence identity values may be determined over the entire nucleic acid or amino acid sequence or over selected domains or conserved motif(s), using the programs mentioned above using the default parameters.

Furthermore, ANN polypeptides (at least in their native form) typically have calcium binding activity and capability of binding to membranes. Tools and techniques for measuring membrane binding activity are well known in the art, and include measurement of effects on membrane surface hydrophobicity, vesicle leakage or vesicle aggregation. In addition, ANN polypeptides may exhibit enzymatic activity; for example, Annexin 1 from Arabidopsis thaliana is reported to display peroxidase activity (Gorecka et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 336, 868-875, 2005). Further details are provided in Example 19.

The present invention is illustrated by transforming plants with the nucleic acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 83, encoding respectively the polypeptide sequences of SEQ ID NO: 84. However, performance of the invention is not restricted to these sequences; the methods of the invention may advantageously be performed using any ANN-encoding nucleic acid or ANN polypeptide as defined herein.

Examples of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides are given in Table B1 of Example 14 herein. Such nucleic acids are useful in performing the methods of the invention. The amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14 are example sequences of orthologues and paralogues of the ANN polypeptide represented by SEQ ID NO: 84, the terms “orthologues” and “paralogues” being as defined herein. Further orthologues and paralogues may readily be identified by performing a so-called reciprocal blast search. Typically, this involves a first BLAST involving BLASTing a query sequence (for example using any of the sequences listed in Table B1 of Example 14) against any sequence database, such as the publicly available NCBI database. BLASTN or TBLASTX (using standard default values) are generally used when starting from a nucleotide sequence, and BLASTP or TBLASTN (using standard default values) when starting from a protein sequence. The BLAST results may optionally be filtered. The full-length sequences of either the filtered results or non-filtered results are then BLASTed back (second BLAST) against sequences from the organism from which the query sequence is derived (where the query sequence is SEQ ID NO: 83 or SEQ ID NO: 84, the second BLAST would therefore be against Arabidopsis thaliana sequences). The results of the first and second BLASTs are then compared. A paralogue is identified if a high-ranking hit from the first blast is from the same species as from which the query sequence is derived, a BLAST back then ideally results in the query sequence amongst the highest hits; an orthologue is identified if a high-ranking hit in the first BLAST is not from the same species as from which the query sequence is derived, and preferably results upon BLAST back in the query sequence being among the highest hits.

High-ranking hits are those having a low E-value. The lower the E-value, the more significant the score (or in other words the lower the chance that the hit was found by chance). Computation of the E-value is well known in the art. In addition to E-values, comparisons are also scored by percentage identity. Percentage identity refers to the number of identical nucleotides (or amino acids) between the two compared nucleic acid (or polypeptide) sequences over a particular length. In the case of large families, ClustalW may be used, followed by a neighbour joining tree, to help visualize clustering of related genes and to identify orthologues and paralogues.

Nucleic acid variants may also be useful in practising the methods of the invention. Examples of such variants include nucleic acids encoding homologues and derivatives of any one of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14, the terms “homologue” and “derivative” being as defined herein. Also useful in the methods of the invention are nucleic acids encoding homologues and derivatives of orthologues or paralogues of any one of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14. Homologues and derivatives useful in the methods of the present invention have substantially the same biological and functional activity as the unmodified protein from which they are derived.

Further nucleic acid variants useful in practising the methods of the invention include portions of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides, nucleic acids hybridising to nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides, splice variants of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides, allelic variants of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides and variants of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides obtained by gene shuffling. The terms hybridising sequence, splice variant, allelic variant and gene shuffling are as described herein.

Nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides need not be full-length nucleic acids, since performance of the methods of the invention does not rely on the use of full-length nucleic acid sequences. According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a portion of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14, or a portion of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14.

A portion of a nucleic acid may be prepared, for example, by making one or more deletions to the nucleic acid. The portions may be used in isolated form or they may be fused to other coding (or non-coding) sequences in order to, for example, produce a protein that combines several activities. When fused to other coding sequences, the resultant polypeptide produced upon translation may be bigger than that predicted for the protein portion.

Portions useful in the methods of the invention, encode an ANN polypeptide as defined herein, and have substantially the same biological activity as the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14. Preferably, the portion is a portion of any one of the nucleic acids given in Table B1 of Example 14, or is a portion of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14. Preferably the portion is at least 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, consecutive nucleotides in length, the consecutive nucleotides being of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14, or of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14. Most preferably the portion is a portion of the nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO: 83. Preferably, the portion encodes an amino acid sequence which when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 8, tends to cluster with the group of ANN comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 and SEQ ID NO: 135 rather than with any other group.

Another nucleic acid variant useful in the methods of the invention is a nucleic acid capable of hybridising, under reduced stringency conditions, preferably under stringent conditions, with a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined herein, or with a portion as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid capable of hybridizing to any one of the nucleic acids given in Table B1 of Example 14, or comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14.

Hybridising sequences useful in the methods of the invention encode an ANN polypeptide as defined herein, and have substantially the same biological activity as the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14. Preferably, the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to any one of the nucleic acids given in Table B1 of Example 14, or to a portion of any of these sequences, a portion being as defined above, or wherein the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of any one of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14. Most preferably, the hybridising sequence is capable of hybridising to a nucleic acid as represented by SEQ ID NO: 83 or to a portion thereof.

Preferably, the hybridising sequence encodes an amino acid sequence which when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 8, tends to cluster with the group of ANN polypeptides comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 and SEQ ID NO: 135, rather than with any other group.

Another nucleic acid variant useful in the methods of the invention is a splice variant encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined hereinabove, a splice variant being as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a splice variant of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14, or a splice variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14.

Preferred splice variants are splice variants of a nucleic acid represented by SEQ ID NO: 83, or a splice variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of SEQ ID NO: 84. Preferably, the amino acid sequence encoded by the splice variant, when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 8, tends to cluster with the group of ANN polypeptides comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 and SEQ ID NO: 135 rather than with any other group.

Another nucleic acid variant useful in performing the methods of the invention is an allelic variant of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined hereinabove, an allelic variant being as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant an allelic variant of any one of the nucleic acids given in Table B1 of Example 14, or comprising introducing and expressing in a plant an allelic variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14.

The allelic variants useful in the methods of the present invention have substantially the same biological activity as the ANN polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 84 and any of the amino acids depicted in Table B1 of Example 14. Allelic variants exist in nature, and encompassed within the methods of the present invention is the use of these natural alleles. Preferably, the allelic variant is an allelic variant of SEQ ID NO: 83 or an allelic variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue or paralogue of SEQ ID NO: 84. Preferably, the amino acid sequence encoded by the allelic variant, when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree, such as the one depicted in FIG. 8, tends to cluster with the ANN polypeptides comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 and SEQ ID NO: 135, rather than with any other group.

Gene shuffling or directed evolution may also be used to generate variants of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides as defined above; the term “gene shuffling” being as defined herein.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a variant of any one of the nucleic acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14, or comprising introducing and expressing in a plant a variant of a nucleic acid encoding an orthologue, paralogue or homologue of any of the amino acid sequences given in Table B1 of Example 14, which variant nucleic acid is obtained by gene shuffling.

Preferably, the amino acid sequence encoded by the variant nucleic acid obtained by gene shuffling, when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree such as the one depicted in FIG. 8, tends to cluster with the group of ANN polypeptides comprising the amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 and SEQ ID NO: 135, rather than with any other group.

Furthermore, nucleic acid variants may also be obtained by site-directed mutagenesis. Several methods are available to achieve site-directed mutagenesis, the most common being PCR based methods (Current Protocols in Molecular Biology. Wiley Eds).

Nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides may be derived from any natural or artificial source. The nucleic acid may be modified from its native form in composition and/or genomic environment through deliberate human manipulation. Preferably the ANN polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid is from a plant, further preferably from a dicotyledonous plant, more preferably from the family Brassicaceae, most preferably the nucleic acid is from Arabidopsis thaliana.

Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having enhanced yield-related traits. In particular performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having increased yield, especially increased seed yield relative to control plants. The terms “yield” and “seed yield” are described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein.

Reference herein to enhanced yield-related traits is taken to mean an increase in biomass (weight) of one or more parts of a plant, which may include aboveground (harvestable) parts and/or (harvestable) parts below ground. In particular, such harvestable parts are seeds, and performance of the methods of the invention results in plants having increased seed yield relative to the seed yield of control plants.

Taking corn as an example, a yield increase may be manifested as one or more of the following: increase in the number of plants established per hectare or acre, an increase in the number of ears per plant, an increase in the number of rows, number of kernels per row, kernel weight, thousand kernel weight, ear length/diameter, increase in the seed filling rate (which is the number of filled seeds divided by the total number of seeds and multiplied by 100), among others. Taking rice as an example, a yield increase may manifest itself as an increase in one or more of the following: number of plants per hectare or acre, number of panicles per plant, number of spikelets per panicle, number of flowers (florets) per panicle (which is expressed as a ratio of the number of filled seeds over the number of primary panicles), increase in the seed filling rate (which is the number of filled seeds divided by the total number of seeds and multiplied by 100), increase in thousand kernel weight, among others.

The present invention provides a method for increasing yield, especially seed yield of plants, relative to control plants, which method comprises modulating expression, preferably increasing expression, in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined herein.

Since the transgenic plants according to the present invention have increased yield, it is likely that these plants exhibit an increased growth rate (during at least part of their life cycle), relative to the growth rate of control plants at a corresponding stage in their life cycle.

The increased growth rate may be specific to one or more parts of a plant (including seeds), or may be throughout substantially the whole plant. Plants having an increased growth rate may have a shorter life cycle. The life cycle of a plant may be taken to mean the time needed to grow from a dry mature seed up to the stage where the plant has produced dry mature seeds, similar to the starting material. This life cycle may be influenced by factors such as early vigour, growth rate, greenness index, flowering time and speed of seed maturation. The increase in growth rate may take place at one or more stages in the life cycle of a plant or during substantially the whole plant life cycle. Increased growth rate during the early stages in the life cycle of a plant may reflect enhanced vigour. The increase in growth rate may alter the harvest cycle of a plant allowing plants to be sown later and/or harvested sooner than would otherwise be possible (a similar effect may be obtained with earlier flowering time). If the growth rate is sufficiently increased, it may allow for the further sowing of seeds of the same plant species (for example sowing and harvesting of rice plants followed by sowing and harvesting of further rice plants all within one conventional growing period). Similarly, if the growth rate is sufficiently increased, it may allow for the further sowing of seeds of different plants species (for example the sowing and harvesting of corn plants followed by, for example, the sowing and optional harvesting of soybean, potato or any other suitable plant). Harvesting additional times from the same rootstock in the case of some crop plants may also be possible. Altering the harvest cycle of a plant may lead to an increase in annual biomass production per acre (due to an increase in the number of times (say in a year) that any particular plant may be grown and harvested). An increase in growth rate may also allow for the cultivation of transgenic plants in a wider geographical area than their wild-type counterparts, since the territorial limitations for growing a crop are often determined by adverse environmental conditions either at the time of planting (early season) or at the time of harvesting (late season). Such adverse conditions may be avoided if the harvest cycle is shortened. The growth rate may be determined by deriving various parameters from growth curves, such parameters may be: T-Mid (the time taken for plants to reach 50% of their maximal size) and T-90 (time taken for plants to reach 90% of their maximal size), amongst others.

According to a preferred feature of the present invention, performance of the methods of the invention gives plants having an increased growth rate relative to control plants. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for increasing the growth rate of plants, which method comprises modulating expression, preferably increasing expression, in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined herein.

An increase in yield and/or growth rate occurs whether the plant is under non-stress conditions or whether the plant is exposed to various stresses compared to control plants. Plants typically respond to exposure to stress by growing more slowly. In conditions of severe stress, the plant may even stop growing altogether. Mild stress on the other hand is defined herein as being any stress to which a plant is exposed which does not result in the plant ceasing to grow altogether without the capacity to resume growth. Mild stress in the sense of the invention leads to a reduction in the growth of the stressed plants of less than 40%, 35% or 30%, preferably less than 25%, 20% or 15%, more preferably less than 14%, 13%, 12%, 11% or 10% or less in comparison to the control plant under non-stress conditions. Due to advances in agricultural practices (irrigation, fertilization, pesticide treatments) severe stresses are not often encountered in cultivated crop plants. As a consequence, the compromised growth induced by mild stress is often an undesirable feature for agriculture. Mild stresses are the everyday biotic and/or abiotic (environmental) stresses to which a plant is exposed. Abiotic stresses may be due to drought or excess water, anaerobic stress, salt stress, chemical toxicity, oxidative stress and hot, cold or freezing temperatures. The abiotic stress may be an osmotic stress caused by a water stress (particularly due to drought), salt stress, oxidative stress or an ionic stress. Biotic stresses are typically those stresses caused by pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and insects.

In particular, the methods of the present invention may be performed under non-stress conditions or under conditions of mild drought to give plants having increased yield relative to control plants. As reported in Wang et al. (Planta (2003) 218: 1-14), abiotic stress leads to a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that adversely affect plant growth and productivity. Drought, salinity, extreme temperatures and oxidative stress are known to be interconnected and may induce growth and cellular damage through similar mechanisms. Rabbani et al. (Plant Physiol (2003) 133: 1755-1767) describes a particularly high degree of “cross talk” between drought stress and high-salinity stress. For example, drought and/or salinisation are manifested primarily as osmotic stress, resulting in the disruption of homeostasis and ion distribution in the cell. Oxidative stress, which frequently accompanies high or low temperature, salinity or drought stress, may cause denaturing of functional and structural proteins. As a consequence, these diverse environmental stresses often activate similar cell signalling pathways and cellular responses, such as the production of stress proteins, up-regulation of anti-oxidants, accumulation of compatible solutes and growth arrest. The term “non-stress” conditions as used herein are those environmental conditions that allow optimal growth of plants. Persons skilled in the art are aware of normal soil conditions and climatic conditions for a given location.

Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants grown under non-stress conditions or under mild drought conditions increased yield relative to control plants grown under comparable conditions. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for increasing yield in plants grown under non-stress conditions or under mild drought conditions, which method comprises increasing expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide.

Performance of the methods of the invention gives plants grown under conditions of nutrient deficiency, particularly under conditions of nitrogen deficiency, increased yield relative to control plants grown under comparable conditions. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a method for increasing yield in plants grown under conditions of nutrient deficiency, which method comprises increasing expression in a plant of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide. Nutrient deficiency may result from a lack of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphates and other phosphorous-containing compounds, potassium, calcium, cadmium, magnesium, manganese, iron and boron, amongst others.

The present invention encompasses plants or parts thereof (including seeds) obtainable by the methods according to the present invention. The plants or parts thereof comprise a nucleic acid transgene encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined above.

The invention also provides genetic constructs and vectors to facilitate introduction and/or expression in plants of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides. The gene constructs may be inserted into vectors, which may be commercially available, suitable for transforming into plants and suitable for expression of the gene of interest in the transformed cells. The invention also provides use of a gene construct as defined herein in the methods of the invention.

More specifically, the present invention provides a construct comprising:

-   -   (a) a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined above;     -   (b) one or more control sequences capable of driving expression         of the nucleic acid sequence of (a); and optionally     -   (c) a transcription termination sequence.

Preferably, the nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide is as defined above. The term “control sequence” and “termination sequence” are as defined herein.

Plants are transformed with a vector comprising any of the nucleic acids described above. The skilled artisan is well aware of the genetic elements that must be present on the vector in order to successfully transform, select and propagate host cells containing the sequence of interest. The sequence of interest is operably linked to one or more control sequences (at least to a promoter).

Advantageously, any type of promoter, whether natural or synthetic, may be used to drive expression of the nucleic acid sequence. A constitutive promoter is particularly useful in the methods. See the “Definitions” section herein for definitions of the various promoter types. Also useful in the methods of the invention is a green tissue-specific promoter.

It should be clear that the applicability of the present invention is not restricted to the ANN polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid represented by SEQ ID NO: 83, nor is the applicability of the invention restricted to expression of an ANN polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid when driven by a constitutive promoter, or when driven by a green tissue-specific promoter.

The constitutive promoter is preferably a GOS2 promoter, preferably a GOS2 promoter from rice. Further preferably the constitutive promoter is represented by a nucleic acid sequence substantially similar to SEQ ID NO: 94, most preferably the constitutive promoter is as represented by SEQ ID NO: 94. See Table 2a in the “Definitions” section herein for further examples of constitutive promoters.

According to another preferred feature of the invention, the nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide is operably linked to a green tissue-specific promoter. The green tissue specific promoter is preferably an expansin promoter, further preferably an expansin promoter from rice. Further preferably the green tissue-specific promoter is represented by a nucleic acid sequence substantially similar to SEQ ID NO: 95, most preferably the green tissue-specific promoter is as represented by SEQ ID NO: 95. See Table 2g in the “Definitions” section herein for further examples of green tissue-specific promoters.

Optionally, one or more terminator sequences may be used in the construct introduced into a plant. Additional regulatory elements may include transcriptional as well as translational enhancers. Those skilled in the art will be aware of terminator and enhancer sequences that may be suitable for use in performing the invention. An intron sequence may also be added to the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) or in the coding sequence to increase the amount of the mature message that accumulates in the cytosol, as described in the definitions section. Other control sequences (besides promoter, enhancer, silencer, intron sequences, 3′UTR and/or 5′UTR regions) may be protein and/or RNA stabilizing elements. Such sequences would be known or may readily be obtained by a person skilled in the art.

The genetic constructs of the invention may further include an origin of replication sequence that is required for maintenance and/or replication in a specific cell type. One example is when a genetic construct is required to be maintained in a bacterial cell as an episomal genetic element (e.g. plasmid or cosmid molecule). Preferred origins of replication include, but are not limited to, the f1-ori and colE1.

For the detection of the successful transfer of the nucleic acid sequences as used in the methods of the invention and/or selection of transgenic plants comprising these nucleic acids, it is advantageous to use marker genes (or reporter genes). Therefore, the genetic construct may optionally comprise a selectable marker gene. Selectable markers are described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein.

It is known that upon stable or transient integration of nucleic acids into plant cells, only a minority of the cells takes up the foreign DNA and, if desired, integrates it into its genome, depending on the expression vector used and the transfection technique used. To identify and select these integrants, a gene coding for a selectable marker (such as the ones described above) is usually introduced into the host cells together with the gene of interest. These markers can for example be used in mutants in which these genes are not functional by, for example, deletion by conventional methods. Furthermore, nucleic acid molecules encoding a selectable marker can be introduced into a host cell on the same vector that comprises the sequence encoding the polypeptides of the invention or used in the methods of the invention, or else in a separate vector. Cells which have been stably transfected with the introduced nucleic acid can be identified for example by selection (for example, cells which have integrated the selectable marker survive whereas the other cells die). The marker genes may be removed or excised from the transgenic cell once they are no longer needed. Techniques for marker gene removal are known in the art, useful techniques are described above in the definitions section.

The invention also provides a method for the production of transgenic plants having enhanced yield-related traits relative to control plants, comprising introduction and expression in a plant of any nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined hereinabove.

More specifically, the present invention provides a method for the production of transgenic plants having increased enhanced yield-related traits, particularly increased seed yield, which method comprises:

-   -   (i) introducing and expressing in a plant or plant cell an ANN         polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid; and     -   (ii) cultivating the plant cell under conditions promoting plant         growth and development.

The nucleic acid of (i) may be any of the nucleic acids capable of encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined herein.

The nucleic acid may be introduced directly into a plant cell or into the plant itself (including introduction into a tissue, organ or any other part of a plant). According to a preferred feature of the present invention, the nucleic acid is preferably introduced into a plant by transformation. The term “transformation” is described in more detail in the “definitions” section herein.

The genetically modified plant cells can be regenerated via all methods with which the skilled worker is familiar. Suitable methods can be found in the abovementioned publications by S. D. Kung and R. Wu, Potrykus or Höfgen and Willmitzer.

Generally after transformation, plant cells or cell groupings are selected for the presence of one or more markers which are encoded by plant-expressible genes co-transferred with the gene of interest, following which the transformed material is regenerated into a whole plant. To select transformed plants, the plant material obtained in the transformation is, as a rule, subjected to selective conditions so that transformed plants can be distinguished from untransformed plants. For example, the seeds obtained in the above-described manner can be planted and, after an initial growing period, subjected to a suitable selection by spraying. A further possibility consists in growing the seeds, if appropriate after sterilization, on agar plates using a suitable selection agent so that only the transformed seeds can grow into plants. Alternatively, the transformed plants are screened for the presence of a selectable marker such as the ones described above.

Following DNA transfer and regeneration, putatively transformed plants may also be evaluated, for instance using Southern analysis, for the presence of the gene of interest, copy number and/or genomic organisation. Alternatively or additionally, expression levels of the newly introduced DNA may be monitored using Northern and/or Western analysis, both techniques being well known to persons having ordinary skill in the art.

The generated transformed plants may be propagated by a variety of means, such as by clonal propagation or classical breeding techniques. For example, a first generation (or T1) transformed plant may be selfed and homozygous second-generation (or T2) transformants selected, and the T2 plants may then further be propagated through classical breeding techniques. The generated transformed organisms may take a variety of forms. For example, they may be chimeras of transformed cells and non-transformed cells; clonal transformants (e.g., all cells transformed to contain the expression cassette); grafts of transformed and untransformed tissues (e.g., in plants, a transformed rootstock grafted to an untransformed scion).

The present invention clearly extends to any plant cell or plant produced by any of the methods described herein, and to all plant parts and propagules thereof. The present invention extends further to encompass the progeny of a primary transformed or transfected cell, tissue, organ or whole plant that has been produced by any of the aforementioned methods, the only requirement being that progeny exhibit the same genotypic and/or phenotypic characteristic(s) as those produced by the parent in the methods according to the invention.

The invention also includes host cells containing an isolated nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined hereinabove. Preferred host cells according to the invention are plant cells. Host plants for the nucleic acids or the vector used in the method according to the invention, the expression cassette or construct or vector are, in principle, advantageously all plants, which are capable of synthesizing the polypeptides used in the inventive method.

The methods of the invention are advantageously applicable to any plant. Plants that are particularly useful in the methods of the invention include all plants which belong to the superfamily Viridiplantae, in particular monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants including fodder or forage legumes, ornamental plants, food crops, trees or shrubs. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plant is a crop plant. Examples of crop plants include soybean, sunflower, canola, alfalfa, rapeseed, cotton, tomato, potato and tobacco. Further preferably, the plant is a monocotyledonous plant. Examples of monocotyledonous plants include sugarcane. More preferably the plant is a cereal. Examples of cereals include rice, maize, wheat, barley, millet, rye, triticale, sorghum and oats.

The invention also extends to harvestable parts of a plant such as, but not limited to seeds, leaves, fruits, flowers, stems, rhizomes, tubers and bulbs. The invention furthermore relates to products derived, preferably directly derived, from a harvestable part of such a plant, such as dry pellets or powders, oil, fat and fatty acids, starch or proteins.

According to a preferred feature of the invention, the modulated expression is increased expression. Methods for increasing expression of nucleic acids or genes, or gene products, are well documented in the art and examples are provided in the definitions section.

As mentioned above, a preferred method for modulating (preferably, increasing) expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide is by introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide; however the effects of performing the method, i.e. enhancing yield-related traits may also be achieved using other well known techniques, including but not limited to T-DNA activation tagging, TILLING, homologous recombination. A description of these techniques is provided in the definitions section.

The present invention also encompasses use of nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides as described herein and use of these ANN polypeptides in enhancing any of the aforementioned yield-related traits in plants.

Nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptide described herein, or the ANN polypeptides themselves, may find use in breeding programmes in which a DNA marker is identified which may be genetically linked to an ANN polypeptide-encoding gene. The nucleic acids/genes, or the ANN polypeptides themselves may be used to define a molecular marker. This DNA or protein marker may then be used in breeding programmes to select plants having enhanced yield-related traits as defined hereinabove in the methods of the invention.

Allelic variants of an ANN polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid/gene may also find use in marker-assisted breeding programmes. Such breeding programmes sometimes require introduction of allelic variation by mutagenic treatment of the plants, using for example EMS mutagenesis; alternatively, the programme may start with a collection of allelic variants of so called “natural” origin caused unintentionally. Identification of allelic variants then takes place, for example, by PCR. This is followed by a step for selection of superior allelic variants of the sequence in question and which give increased yield. Selection is typically carried out by monitoring growth performance of plants containing different allelic variants of the sequence in question. Growth performance may be monitored in a greenhouse or in the field. Further optional steps include crossing plants in which the superior allelic variant was identified with another plant. This could be used, for example, to make a combination of interesting phenotypic features.

Nucleic acids encoding ANN polypeptides may also be used as probes for genetically and physically mapping the genes that they are a part of, and as markers for traits linked to those genes. Such information may be useful in plant breeding in order to develop lines with desired phenotypes. Such use of ANN polypeptide-encoding nucleic acids requires only a nucleic acid sequence of at least 15 nucleotides in length. The ANN polypeptide-encoding nucleic acids may be used as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers. Southern blots (Sambrook J, Fritsch E F and Maniatis T (1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual) of restriction-digested plant genomic DNA may be probed with the ANN-encoding nucleic acids. The resulting banding patterns may then be subjected to genetic analyses using computer programs such as MapMaker (Lander et al. (1987) Genomics 1: 174-181) in order to construct a genetic map. In addition, the nucleic acids may be used to probe Southern blots containing restriction endonuclease-treated genomic DNAs of a set of individuals representing parent and progeny of a defined genetic cross. Segregation of the DNA polymorphisms is noted and used to calculate the position of the ANN polypeptide-encoding nucleic acid in the genetic map previously obtained using this population (Botstein et al. (1980) Am. J. Hum. Genet. 32:314-331).

The production and use of plant gene-derived probes for use in genetic mapping is described in Bernatzky and Tanksley (1986) Plant Mol. Biol. Reporter 4: 37-41. Numerous publications describe genetic mapping of specific cDNA clones using the methodology outlined above or variations thereof. For example, F2 intercross populations, backcross populations, randomly mated populations, near isogenic lines, and other sets of individuals may be used for mapping. Such methodologies are well known to those skilled in the art.

The nucleic acid probes may also be used for physical mapping (i.e., placement of sequences on physical maps; see Hoheisel et al. In: Non-mammalian Genomic Analysis: A Practical Guide, Academic press 1996, pp. 319-346, and references cited therein).

In another embodiment, the nucleic acid probes may be used in direct fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) mapping (Trask (1991) Trends Genet. 7:149-154). Although current methods of FISH mapping favour use of large clones (several kb to several hundred kb; see Laan et al. (1995) Genome Res. 5:13-20), improvements in sensitivity may allow performance of FISH mapping using shorter probes.

A variety of nucleic acid amplification-based methods for genetic and physical mapping may be carried out using the nucleic acids. Examples include allele-specific amplification (Kazazian (1989) J. Lab. Clin. Med 11:95-96), polymorphism of PCR-amplified fragments (CAPS; Sheffield et al. (1993) Genomics 16:325-332), allele-specific ligation (Landegren et al. (1988) Science 241:1077-1080), nucleotide extension reactions (Sokolov (1990) Nucleic Acid Res. 18:3671), Radiation Hybrid Mapping (Walter et al. (1997) Nat. Genet. 7:22-28) and Happy Mapping (Dear and Cook (1989) Nucleic Acid Res. 17:6795-6807). For these methods, the sequence of a nucleic acid is used to design and produce primer pairs for use in the amplification reaction or in primer extension reactions. The design of such primers is well known to those skilled in the art. In methods employing PCR-based genetic mapping, it may be necessary to identify DNA sequence differences between the parents of the mapping cross in the region corresponding to the instant nucleic acid sequence. This, however, is generally not necessary for mapping methods.

The methods according to the present invention result in plants having enhanced yield-related traits, as described hereinbefore. These traits may also be combined with other economically advantageous traits, such as further yield-enhancing traits, tolerance to other abiotic and biotic stresses, traits modifying various architectural features and/or biochemical and/or physiological features.

Items

-   1. A method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants relative to     control plants, comprising modulating, preferably increasing,     expression in the roots a plant, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding     2-cysteine peroxiredoxin (2-Cys PRX), which 2-Cys PRX polypeptide     comprises from N-terminus to C-terminus: (1) a plastidic transit     peptide; and (2) a 2-Cys PRX domain, and optionally selecting for     plants having increased yield. -   2. Method according to item 1, wherein said 2-Cys PRX polypeptide     additionally comprise one or both of: (i) Motif 1 as represented by     SEQ ID NO: 77, or a motif having at least 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%,     75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% or more amino acid sequence     identity to SEQ ID NO: 77; or (ii) Motif 2 as represented by SEQ ID     NO: 78, or a motif having at least 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%,     80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% or more amino acid sequence identity to     SEQ ID NO: 78. -   3. Method according to item 1 or 2, wherein said 2-Cys PRX     polypeptide, when used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree,     such as the one depicted in FIG. 3, tends to cluster with the 2-Cys     PRX clade of polypeptides comprising the polypeptide sequence as     represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, rather than with any other PRX clade. -   4. Method according to any preceding item wherein said 2-Cys PRX     polypeptide is a polypeptide having in increasing order of     preference at least 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%,     80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% or more sequence identity to the 2-Cys     PRX polypeptide as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 or to any of the     polypeptide sequences given in Table A1 herein. -   5. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said nucleic acid     sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is represented by any one     of the nucleic acid sequences listed in Table A1, or is a portion     thereof, or is a sequence capable of hybridising with any one of the     nucleic acid sequences listed in Table A1. -   6. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said nucleic acid     sequence encodes an orthologue or paralogue of any of the     polypeptides listed in Table A1. -   7. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said modulated,     preferably increased, expression is effected by any one or more of:     T-DNA activation tagging, TILLING, or homologous recombination. -   8. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said modulated,     preferably increased, expression is effected by introducing and     expressing in the roots of a plant a nucleic acid sequence encoding     a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide. -   9. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said enhanced     yield-related traits is one or more of: (i) improved early     vigour; (ii) increased aboveground biomass; (iii) increased root     biomass; (iv) increase number of flowers per panicle; (v) increased     seed fill rate; (vi) increased total seed yield per plant; (vii)     increased number of (filled) seeds; (viii) increased harvest index;     or (ix) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW). -   10. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said enhanced     yield-related traits are obtained under abiotic stress. -   11. Method according to item 10, wherein said abiotic stress is     osmotic stress, selected from one or more of: water stress, salt     stress, oxidative stress and ionic stress; preferably wherein said     water stress is drought stress and/or reduced nutrient availability,     preferably reduced nitrogen availability. -   12. Method according to item 10 or 11, wherein said abiotic stress     tolerance is manifested as enhanced yield-related trait selected     from one or more of: (i) improved early vigour; (ii) increased     aboveground biomass; (iii) increased root (thick and thin)     biomass; (iv) increase number of flowers per panicle; (v) increased     seed fill rate; (vi) increased total seed yield per plant; (vii)     increased number of (filled) seeds; (viii) increased harvest index;     or (ix) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW), each relative to     control plants. -   13. Method according to any of items 8 to 12, wherein said nucleic     acid sequence is operably linked to a root-specific promoter,     preferably to an RCc3 promoter, further preferably to an RCc3     promoter substantially similar to SEQ ID NO: 80, most preferably to     a promoter as represented by SEQ ID NO: 80. -   14. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said nucleic     acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide is of plant origin,     preferably from a dicotyledonous plant, more preferably from the     family Brassicaceae, most preferably from Brassica rapa. -   15. Plant or part thereof, including seeds, obtainable by a method     according to any preceding item, wherein said plant or part thereof     comprises a nucleic acid transgene encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide,     operably linked to a root-specific promoter. -   16. Construct comprising:     -   (a) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as         defined in any one of items 1 to 6;     -   (b) one or more control sequences capable of driving expression         of the nucleic acid sequence of (a); and optionally     -   (c) a transcription termination sequence; wherein at least one         of the control sequences is a root-specific promoter, preferably         an Rcc3 promoter. -   17. Use of a construct according to item 16 in a method for making     plants having enhanced yield-related traits, which enhanced     yield-related traits is preferably one or more of: (i) improved     early vigour; (ii) increased aboveground biomass; (iii) increased     root (thick and thin) biomass; (iv) increase number of flowers per     panicle; (v) increased seed fill rate; (vi) increased total seed     yield per plant; (vii) increased number of (filled) seeds; (viii)     increased harvest index; or (ix) increased thousand kernel weight     (TKW), relative to control plants. -   18. Plant, plant part or plant cell transformed with a construct     according to item 16. -   19. Method for the production of a transgenic plant having enhanced     yield-related traits relative to control plants, comprising:     -   introducing and expressing in a plant, plant part or plant cell         a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide as         defined in any one of items 1 to 5, under the control of a         root-specific promoter; and     -   (ii) cultivating the plant cell under conditions promoting plant         growth and development. -   20. Method according to item 19 wherein said enhanced yield-related     traits occur under increased abiotic stress. -   21. Transgenic plant having enhanced yield-related traits relative     to control plants, resulting from modulated, preferably increased,     expression in the roots, of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys     PRX polypeptide as defined in any one of items 1 to 6, or a     transgenic plant cell or plant part derived from said transgenic     plant. -   22. Transgenic plant according to item 15, 18 or 21, wherein said     plant is a crop plant or a monocot or a cereal, such as rice, maize,     wheat, barley, millet, rye, triticale, sorghum and oats, or a     transgenic plant cell or plant part derived from said transgenic     plant. -   23. Harvestable parts of a plant comprising a nucleic acid sequence     encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide according to item 22, wherein said     harvestable parts are preferably seeds. -   24. Products derived from a plant according to item 22 and/or from     harvestable parts of a plant according to item 23. -   25. Use of a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide     as defined in any one of items 1 to 6 in enhancing yield-related     traits in plants, preferably in increasing one or more of: (i)     increased seed fill rate; (ii) increased total seed yield per     plant; (iii) increased number of filled seeds; (iv) increased total     number of seeds; (v) increased thousand kernel weight (TKW) or (vi)     increased harvest index, relative to control plants. -   26. Use according to item 25, wherein said enhanced yield-related     traits occur under abiotic stress. -   27. A method for enhancing yield-related traits in plants relative     to control plants, comprising modulating expression in a plant of a     nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide, wherein said ANN     polypeptide comprises one or more of the following motifs:     -   (i) Signature sequence 1 (SEQ ID NO: 87),     -   (ii) Signature sequence 2 (SEQ ID NO: 88),     -   (iii) Signature sequence 3 (SEQ ID NO: 89),     -   (iv) Signature sequence 4 (SEQ ID NO: 90),     -   (v) Signature sequence 5 (SEQ ID NO: 91),     -   (vi) Signature sequence 6 (SEQ ID NO: 92),     -   (vii) Signature sequence 7 (SEQ ID NO: 93). -   28. Method according to item 27, wherein said ANN polypeptide     comprises at least an annexin domain. -   29. Method according to item 27 or 28, wherein said modulated     expression is effected by introducing and expressing in a plant a     nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide. -   30. Method according to any one of items 27 to 29, wherein said     nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide encodes any one of the     proteins listed in Table B1 or is a portion of such a nucleic acid,     or a nucleic acid capable of hybridising with such a nucleic acid. -   31. Method according to any one of items 27 to 30, wherein said     nucleic acid sequence encodes an orthologue or paralogue of any of     the proteins given in Table B1. -   32. Method according to any one of items 27 to 31, wherein said     enhanced yield-related traits comprise increased yield, preferably     increased seed yield relative to control plants. -   33. Method according to any one of items 27 to 32, wherein said     enhanced yield-related traits are obtained under non-stress     conditions. -   34. Method according to any one of items 27 to 33, wherein said     enhanced yield-related traits are obtained under conditions of     drought. -   35. Method according to any one of items 29 to 34, wherein said     nucleic acid is operably linked to a constitutive promoter,     preferably to a GOS2 promoter, most preferably to a GOS2 promoter     from rice. -   36. Method according to any one of items 29 to 34, wherein said     nucleic acid is operably linked to a green-tissue specific promoter,     preferably to an expansin promoter, most preferably to an expansin     promoter from rice. -   37. Method according to any preceding item, wherein said nucleic     acid encoding an ANN polypeptide is of plant origin, preferably from     a dicotyledonous plant, further preferably from the family     Brassicaceae, more preferably from the genus Arabidopsis, most     preferably from Arabidopsis thaliana. -   38. Plant or part thereof, including seeds, obtainable by a method     according to any preceding item, wherein said plant or part thereof     comprises a recombinant nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide. -   39. Construct comprising:     -   (i) nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined in items         27 or 28;     -   (ii) one or more control sequences capable of driving expression         of the nucleic acid sequence of (i); and optionally     -   (iii) a transcription termination sequence. -   40. Construct according to item 39, wherein one of said control     sequences is a constitutive promoter, preferably a GOS2 promoter,     most preferably a GOS2 promoter from rice. -   41. Construct according to item 39, wherein one of said control     sequences is a green-tissue specific promoter, preferably an     expansin promoter, most preferably an expansin promoter from rice. -   42. Use of a construct according to any one of items 39 to 41 in a     method for making plants having increased yield, particularly     increased biomass and/or increased seed yield relative to control     plants. -   43. Plant, plant part or plant cell transformed with a construct     according to any one of items 39 to 41. -   44. Method for the production of a transgenic plant having increased     yield, particularly increased seed yield relative to control plants,     comprising:     -   (i) introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid         encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined in item 27 or 28; and     -   (ii) cultivating the plant cell under conditions promoting plant         growth and development. -   45. Transgenic plant having increased yield, particularly increased     seed yield, relative to control plants, resulting from increased     expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined     in item 27 or 28, or a transgenic plant cell derived from said     transgenic plant. -   46. Transgenic plant according to item 38, 43, or 45, or a     transgenic plant cell derived thereof, wherein said plant is a crop     plant or a monocot or a cereal, such as rice, maize, wheat, barley,     millet, rye, triticale, sorghum and oats. -   47. Harvestable parts of a plant according to item 46, wherein said     harvestable parts are preferably seeds. -   48. Products derived from a plant according to item 46 and/or from     harvestable parts of a plant according to item 47. -   49. Use of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide in increasing     yield, particularly in increasing seed yield in plants, relative to     control plants.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

The present invention will now be described with reference to the following Figures in which:

FIG. 1 represents the catalytic and inactivation/reactivation cycles of 2-Cys Prx enzymes, according to Rhee et al., (2005) Free radical Biology and Medicine 38: 1543-1552.

FIG. 2 represents the output of a search (using default values) of the Conserved Domains Database (CDD) at NCBI, using a 2-Cys PRX as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2. The top hit is entry CD3015, PRX_Typ2cys.

FIG. 3 shows a phylogenetic tree built using the neighbour joining clustering method, after a ClustalW (1.83) multiple sequence alignment of 2-Cys PRX from eubacteria, plant algae, animals, and 1-Cys PRX from plants. The 2-Cys PRX class is marked with an accolade. The 2-Cys PRX as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 is boxed.

FIG. 4 shows a CLUSTAL W (1.83) multiple sequence alignment of 2-Cys PRX from eubacteria, plant algae, animals, and 1-Cys PRX from plants, using default values. Motif 1 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 77 and Motif 2 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 78 are boxed. Sequences shown are: gi|113596153|dbj|BAF20027.1| (SEQ ID NO: 162); gi|113535696|dbj|BAF08079.1| (SEQ ID NO: 163); gi|113533376|dbj|BAF05759.1| (SEQ ID NO: 164); gi|115439131|ref|NP_(—)001043845. (SEQ ID NO: 165); gi|113532211|dbj|BAF04594.1| (SEQ ID NO: 166); gi|115435844|ref|NP_(—)001042680. (SEQ ID NO: 167); gi|113611943|dbj|BAF22321.1| (SEQ ID NO: 168); gi|113611944|dbj|BAF22322.1| (SEQ ID NO: 169); gi|2499469|sp|Q61171|PRDX2_MOU (SEQ ID NO: 170); gi|8394432|ref|NP_(—)058865.1| (SEQ ID NO: 52); gi|21553667|gb|AAM62760.1| (SEQ ID NO: 10); gi|3265490|gb|AAG40040.2|AF32 (SEQ ID NO: 171); gi|1119229|gb|AAG30570.1|AF31 (SEQ ID NO: 8); gi|113564335|dbj|BAF14678.1| (SEQ ID NO: 172); gi|15229806|ref|NP_(—)187769.1| (SEQ ID NO: 173); gi|21592588|gb|AAM64537.1| (SEQ ID NO: 6); gi|3121825|sp|O24364|BAS1_SPIO (SEQ ID NO: 174); gi|1498198|emb|CAA63909.1| (SEQ ID NO: 175); gi|6002472|gb|AAF00001.1|AF052 (SEQ ID NO: 4); gi|21912927|emb|CAC84143.2| (SEQ ID NO: 14); gi|47027073|gb|AAT08751.1| (SEQ ID NO: 176); gi|11558242|emb|CAC17803.1| (SEQ ID NO: 16); gi|15131688|emb|CAC48323.1| (SEQ ID NO: 18); gi|3328221|gb|AAC78473.1| (SEQ ID NO: 177); gi|2499477|sp|Q96468|BAS1_HORV (SEQ ID NO: 178); gi|2829687|sp|P80602|BAS1_WHEA (SEQ ID NO: 179); gi|1076722|pirλS49173 (SEQ ID NO: 180); gi|15446541|ref|NP_(—)001047050. (SEQ ID NO: 20); gi|13536581|dbj|BAF08964.1| (SEQ ID NO: 181); gi|125539780|gb|EAY86175.1| (SEQ ID NO: 182); gi|7339568|emb|CAB82860.1| (SEQ ID NO: 24); gi|17232133|ref|NP_(—)488681.1| (SEQ ID NO: 28); gi|19509654|ref|ZP_(—)01628800.1 (SEQ ID NO: 32); gi|86609696|ref|YP_(—)478458.11 (SEQ ID NO: 30); gi|86605254|ref|YP_(—)474017.1| (SEQ ID NO: 38); gi|22298997|ref|NP_(—)682244.1| (SEQ ID NO: 34); gi|11465738|ref|NP_(—)053882.1| (SEQ ID NO: 46); gi|51209959|ref|YP_(—)063623.1| (SEQ ID NO: 48); gi|81301118|ref|YP_(—)401326.1| (SEQ ID NO: 42); gi|33865747|ref|NP_(—)897306.1| (SEQ ID NO: 40); gi|84518029|ref|ZP_(—)01005378.1| (SEQ ID NO: 44); gi|116059461|emb|CAL55168.1| (SEQ ID NO: 36); gi|74272711|gb|ABA01151.1| (SEQ ID NO: 26); gi|11995220|emb|CAC19677.1| (SEQ ID NO: 183); gi|15455107|ref|NP_(—)001051154. (SEQ ID NO: 184); gi|15455105|ref|NP_(—)001051153. (SEQ ID NO: 185); gi|113595092|dbj|BAF18966.1| (SEQ ID NO: 186); gi|115452325|ref|NP_(—)001049763. (SEQ ID NO: 187); and gi|113610859|dbj|BAF21237.1| (SEQ ID NO: 188).

FIG. 5 represents the binary vector for increased expression in Oryza sativa of a 2-Cys PRX-encoding nucleic acid sequence under the control of either a rice GOS2 promoter (pGOS2; SEQ ID NO: 79), or a rice Rcc3 (pRcc3; SEQ ID NO: 80) promoter.

FIG. 6 details examples of sequences useful in performing the methods according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 A represents SEQ ID NO: 84 with the annexin domains as predicted by SMART indicated in bold underlined; FIG. 7 B shows the annexin domains (predicted by SMART) in ANNEXIN 4 of Arabidopsis thaliana (SEQ ID NO: 135).

FIG. 8 shows a phylogenetic tree (Cantero et al., Plant Physiol. Biochem. 44, 13-24, 2006) of plant annexin proteins useful in the methods of the present invention. The arrows indicate annexin 1 (SEQ ID NO: 84) and annexin 4 (SEQ ID NO: 135) both from Arabidopsis thaliana.

FIG. 9 represents a multiple alignment of various plant annexin proteins. The identifiers refer to the database accessions; NP_(—)174810 corresponds to SEQ ID NO: 84. Conserved residues are indicated by colons or dots. Sequences shown are: NP_(—)001063096 (SEQ ID NO: 141); NP_(—)001061839 (SEQ ID NO: 145); ABE65753 (SEQ ID NO: 133); NP_(—)181410 (SEQ ID NO: 131); NP_(—)001055408 (SEQ ID NO: 151); AAC33305 (SEQ ID NO: 97); AAB71830 (SEQ ID NO: 99); CAB92956 (SEQ ID NO: 113); ABB55363 (SEQ ID NO: 123); AAC97494 (SEQ ID NO: 115); 1DK5 (SEQ ID NO: 105); CAA75213 (SEQ ID NO: 111); CAA75214 (SEQ ID NO: 121); NP_(—)174810 (SEQ ID NO: 84); AAD24540 (SEQ ID NO: 107); AAC97493 (SEQ ID NO: 117); AAB67994 (SEQ ID NO: 103); AAR13288 (SEQ ID NO: 109); AAZ41833 (SEQ ID NO: 101); NP_(—)201307 (SEQ ID NO: 119); NP_(—)196585 (SEQ ID NO: 125); AAZ67605 (SEQ ID NO: 129); NP_(—)196584 (SEQ ID NO: 137); CAA52903 (SEQ ID NO: 127); NP_(—)001048149 (SEQ ID NO: 143); NP_(—)001057176 (SEQ ID NO: 147); NP_(—)568271 (SEQ ID NO: 139); NP_(—)181409 (SEQ ID NO: 135); NP_(—)001063343 (SEQ ID NO: 149); NP_(—)001061661 (SEQ ID NO: 153); and NP_(—)001051711 (SEQ ID NO: 155).

FIG. 10 represents the binary vector for increased expression in Oryza sativa of an ANN-encoding nucleic acid under the control of a rice GOS2 promoter (pGOS2).

FIG. 11 details examples of sequences useful in performing the methods according to the present invention.

EXAMPLES

The present invention will now be described with reference to the following examples, which are by way of illustration alone. The following examples are not intended to completely define or otherwise limit the scope of the invention.

DNA manipulation: unless otherwise stated, recombinant DNA techniques are performed according to standard protocols described in (Sambrook (2001) Molecular Cloning: a laboratory manual, 3rd Edition Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, CSH, New York) or in Volumes 1 and 2 of Ausubel et al. (1994), Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Current Protocols. Standard materials and methods for plant molecular work are described in Plant Molecular Biology Labfax (1993) by R. D. D. Croy, published by BIOS Scientific Publications Ltd (UK) and Blackwell Scientific Publications (UK).

Example 1 Identification of Sequences Related to the Nucleic Acid Sequence Used in the Methods of the Invention

Sequences (full length cDNA, ESTs or genomic) related to the nucleic acid sequence used in the methods of the present invention were identified amongst those maintained in the Entrez Nucleotides database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) using database sequence search tools, such as the Basic Local Alignment Tool (BLAST) (Altschul et al. (1990) J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410; and Altschul et al. (1997) Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389-3402). The program is used to find regions of local similarity between sequences by comparing nucleic acid or polypeptide sequences to sequence databases and by calculating the statistical significance of matches. For example, the polypeptide encoded by the nucleic acid sequence used in the present invention was used for the TBLASTN algorithm, with default settings and the filter to ignore low complexity sequences set off. The output of the analysis was viewed by pairwise comparison, and ranked according to the probability score (E-value), where the score reflect the probability that a particular alignment occurs by chance (the lower the E-value, the more significant the hit). In addition to E-values, comparisons were also scored by percentage identity. Percentage identity refers to the number of identical nucleotides (or amino acids) between the two compared nucleic acid (or polypeptide) sequences over a particular length. In some instances, the default parameters may be adjusted to modify the stringency of the search. For example the E-value may be increased to show less stringent matches. This way, short nearly exact matches may be identified.

Table A1 provides a list of nucleic acid sequences related to the nucleic acid sequence used in the methods of the present invention.

TABLE A1 Examples of 2-Cys PRX nucleic acid and polypeptide sequences: Nucleic acid sequence NCBI SEQ Polypeptide sequence SEQ Species accession ID NO NCBI accession ID NO Brassica sp. SEQ ID NO: 1 1 SEQ ID NO: 2 2 Brassica rapa AF052202.1 3 AAF00001.1 4 Arabidopsis thaliana AY086974.1 5 AAM64537.1 6 Brassica napus AF311863.1 7 AAG30570.1 8 Arabidopsis thaliana NM_120712.2 9 AAM62760.1 10 Spinacia oleracea X94219.1 11 O24364 12 Nicotiana tabacum AJ309009.2 13 CAC84143.2 14 Phaseolus vulgaris AJ288895.1 15 CAC17803.1 16 Pisum sativum AJ315851.1| 17 CAC48323.1 18 Oryza sativa NM_001053585.1 19 NP_001047050.1 20 Os02g0537700 Secale cereale AF076920.1 21 AAC78473.1 22 Riccia fluitans AJ005006.1 23 CAB82860.1 24 Chlamydomonas incerta DQ122920.1 25 ABA01151.1 26 Nostoc gi|17227497:5544705-5545316 27 NP_488681.1 28 Synechococcus sp gi|86607503:2357237-2357845 29 YP_478458.1 30 Nodularia spumigena gi|119509627:35267-35878 31 ZP_01628800.1 32 Thermosynechococcus elongatus gi|22297544:1516844-1517437 33 NP_682244.1 34 Ostreococcus tauri gi|118721427:14610-14671, 35 CAL55168.1 36 14874-14913, 15068-15658 Synechococcus gi|86604733:552727-553335 37 YP_474017.1 38 Synechococcus gi|33864539:1204065-1204667 39 NP_897306.1 40 Synechococcus elongatus gi|81298811:2377107-2377703 41 YP_401326.1 42 Prochlorococcus marinus gi|84517401:555567-556163 43 ZP_01005378.1 44 Porphyra purpurea gi|11465652:76976-77575 45 NP_053882.1 46 Gracilaria tenuistipitata gi|51209843:100291-100971 47 YP_063623.1 48 Mus musculus X82067.1 49 Q61171 50 Rattus norvegicus NM_017169.1 51 NP_058865.1 52

In some instances, related sequences have tentatively been assembled and publicly disclosed by research institutions, such as The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). The Eukaryotic Gene Orthologs (EGO) database may be used to identify such related sequences, either by keyword search or by using the BLAST algorithm with the nucleic acid sequence or polypeptide sequence of interest.

Example 2 Alignment of 2-Cys PRX Polypeptide Sequences

Alignment of 2-Cys PRX polypeptide sequences from eubacteria, plant algae, animals, and 1-Cys PRX polypeptide sequences from plants (as outliers) was performed the Clustal algorithm (1.83) of progressive alignment, using default values (Thompson et al. (1997) Nucleic Acids Res 25:4876-4882; Chenna et al. (2003). Nucleic Acids Res 31:3497-3500). Minor manual editing may be done to further optimise the alignment. The 2-Cys PRX polypeptides are aligned in FIG. 4. Motif 1 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 77 and Motif 2 as represented by SEQ ID NO: 78 are boxed.

A phylogenetic tree of 2-Cys PRX polypeptide sequences from eubacteria, plant algae, animals, and 1-Cys PRX polypeptide sequences from plants (as outliers) was constructed using a neighbour-joining clustering algorithm, well known in the art (FIG. 3). The 2-Cys PRX class is marked with an accolade. The 2-Cys PRX as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 is boxed.

Example 3 Calculation of Global Percentage Identity Between Polypeptide Sequences Useful in Performing the Methods of the Invention

Global percentages of similarity and identity between full length polypeptide sequences useful in performing the methods of the invention were determined using one of the methods available in the art, the MatGAT (Matrix Global Alignment Tool) software (BMC Bioinformatics. 2003 4:29. MatGAT: an application that generates similarity/identity matrices using protein or DNA sequences. Campanella J J, Bitincka L, Smalley J; software hosted by Ledion Bitincka). MatGAT software generates similarity/identity matrices for DNA or protein sequences without needing pre-alignment of the data. The program performs a series of pair-wise alignments using the Myers and Miller global alignment algorithm (with a gap opening penalty of 12, and a gap extension penalty of 2), calculates similarity and identity using for example Blosum 62 (for polypeptides), and then places the results in a distance matrix. Sequence similarity is shown in the bottom half of the dividing line and sequence identity is shown in the top half of the diagonal dividing line.

Parameters used in the comparison were:

Scoring matrix: Blosum62 First Gap: 12 Extending gap: 2

Results of the software analysis are shown in Table A2 for the global similarity and identity over the full length of the polypeptide sequences. Percentage identity is given above the diagonal in bold and percentage similarity is given below the diagonal (normal face).

The percentage identity between the 2-Cys PRX polypeptide sequences useful in performing the methods of the invention can be as low as 35% amino acid identity compared to SEQ ID NO: 2.

TABLE A2 MatGAT results for global similarity and identity over the full length of the polypeptide sequences. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 01. seqidno02 91 89 86 86 88 76 78 76 76 74 66 61 55 53 55 54 57 52 02. seqidno04 92 85 80 80 85 71 74 71 72 69 61 56 52 50 52 51 54 49 03. seqidno06 93 88 85 86 97 75 77 74 74 74 66 61 55 52 55 53 58 51 04. seqidno08 92 86 92 89 85 74 77 74 73 73 64 60 56 52 56 52 59 51 05. seqidno10 91 86 91 93 85 77 76 74 75 74 66 61 57 53 56 53 59 52 06. seqidno12 92 87 98 91 90 76 77 75 75 75 66 61 55 53 55 54 58 52 07. seqidno14 83 80 85 86 86 85 79 79 75 75 66 63 57 54 55 54 57 53 08. seqidno16 84 79 84 83 82 83 83 86 77 76 66 63 58 57 57 56 61 55 09. seqidno18 85 81 85 83 83 85 85 91 75 74 67 63 57 54 56 55 59 53 10. seqidno20 82 77 81 81 83 83 83 85 86 79 66 64 57 55 57 57 60 54 11. seqidno22 84 78 83 82 82 83 83 84 82 85 67 64 58 56 57 56 61 55 12. seqidno24 79 75 79 78 80 79 81 77 78 79 77 60 56 51 53 52 58 51 13. seqidno26 75 70 74 74 75 74 75 75 75 75 74 72 66 62 63 65 69 61 14. seqidno28 65 61 65 64 65 65 65 66 65 67 67 63 75 83 91 83 63 82 15. seqidno30 63 59 63 64 64 63 64 66 65 66 68 63 72 92 80 84 61 96 16. seqidno32 65 61 65 64 65 65 65 67 64 67 67 62 75 97 92 79 63 80 17. seqidno34 62 58 62 62 61 62 62 64 63 66 65 60 73 88 90 88 64 83 18. seqidno36 67 63 67 68 67 67 67 68 67 71 70 65 79 74 72 74 73 59 19. seqidno38 63 59 63 63 63 63 63 66 64 66 68 62 72 92 100 93 89 71 20. seqidno40 62 58 61 60 61 61 61 64 62 62 63 58 73 84 85 85 84 71 85 21. seqidno42 61 58 61 61 61 62 61 65 63 63 64 60 73 89 90 89 89 73 91 22. seqidno44 61 58 61 60 60 61 61 64 62 62 63 57 73 85 85 85 84 73 85 23. seqidno46 62 58 61 61 61 62 61 63 62 63 65 60 72 87 90 88 88 71 90 24. seqidno48 64 61 65 64 65 65 64 67 66 64 67 62 73 74 73 74 71 71 72 25. seqidno50 58 54 58 57 58 58 56 58 57 58 59 55 64 73 73 73 73 64 72 26. seqidno52 57 54 57 56 56 57 55 57 56 58 58 55 63 72 72 72 72 64 72 27. seqidno54 41 39 40 40 40 40 40 42 40 39 41 40 39 45 45 46 46 40 45 28. seqidno56 50 48 50 50 48 49 49 50 50 52 53 49 53 55 52 55 52 49 52 29. seqidno58 36 36 35 34 35 36 36 36 37 36 37 36 40 43 43 44 41 38 42 30. seqidno60 41 41 41 40 40 40 40 40 37 42 41 39 43 28 28 28 27 39 25 31. seqidno62 41 41 43 40 41 43 41 40 40 42 41 40 46 42 39 42 40 43 39 32. seqidno64 27 30 27 27 27 31 27 29 30 33 28 30 35 38 38 37 40 35 40 33. seqidno66 36 37 33 35 35 34 38 33 33 37 34 36 33 30 29 30 27 30 29 34. seqidno68 39 40 39 39 41 39 39 41 38 41 40 35 42 39 34 39 34 40 34 35. seqidno70 34 38 34 34 34 33 32 36 32 35 34 31 33 26 31 26 25 33 26 36. seqidno72 34 33 35 34 34 35 32 36 33 34 36 34 33 27 25 26 25 28 25 37. seqidno74 33 33 32 36 32 33 33 34 32 35 33 33 34 27 29 29 28 31 31 38. seqidno76 30 28 29 30 31 29 30 34 29 32 30 30 35 36 35 38 36 36 35 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 01. seqidno02 53 53 51 50 47 47 46 20 46 19 24 25 16 18 23 18 19 17 17 02. seqidno04 49 51 48 47 46 45 44 21 45 19 22 26 16 19 21 20 18 18 18 03. seqidno06 52 52 50 50 48 46 46 19 46 18 24 25 16 16 22 18 21 18 16 04. seqidno08 52 53 52 50 50 47 45 20 46 19 23 24 15 17 21 17 21 16 16 05. seqidno10 53 53 51 51 49 47 46 20 47 18 24 24 15 18 22 18 20 16 17 06. seqidno12 52 52 51 50 48 48 47 21 46 19 25 25 16 17 22 18 21 19 16 07. seqidno14 53 55 52 51 50 46 45 22 45 20 23 24 15 18 22 18 20 17 16 08. seqidno16 55 57 53 53 51 48 48 21 48 19 21 23 17 17 22 20 20 18 17 09. seqidno18 53 56 51 52 51 46 45 20 46 21 22 24 18 15 22 17 20 16 14 10. seqidno20 53 55 51 53 49 47 46 19 48 18 24 26 16 19 22 20 20 21 19 11. seqidno22 54 56 53 53 49 48 47 20 50 19 26 25 18 18 24 22 22 20 16 12. seqidno24 50 54 50 49 46 44 45 20 43 20 24 25 17 18 21 17 20 20 17 13. seqidno26 64 67 64 59 56 53 53 21 45 22 23 25 20 18 24 19 18 18 18 14. seqidno28 76 83 75 74 61 60 60 27 44 27 13 21 22 15 19 16 17 16 16 15. seqidno30 74 83 72 76 60 58 58 25 43 25 15 19 23 17 15 18 16 17 16 16. seqidno32 76 80 73 73 63 61 61 27 44 27 12 21 22 16 18 16 17 18 17 17. seqidno34 75 83 74 77 60 60 60 27 44 26 16 19 23 15 17 18 17 19 15 18. seqidno36 63 63 63 60 57 50 50 22 44 21 24 22 20 15 20 20 19 17 20 19. seqidno38 72 82 72 76 59 57 57 27 42 27 11 19 23 17 17 17 16 19 17 20. seqidno40 81 90 71 57 64 63 29 44 28 16 19 23 16 17 15 17 17 16 21. seqidno42 88 78 76 58 62 62 26 44 25 15 18 21 15 15 18 17 18 15 22. seqidno44 96 88 70 56 61 61 28 43 27 17 19 20 16 19 17 13 17 18 23. seqidno46 84 90 86 63 58 57 27 39 27 12 18 21 13 18 14 15 16 17 24. seqidno48 71 71 72 73 46 45 23 34 22 18 20 17 12 18 13 12 11 17 25. seqidno50 75 74 75 73 61 99 27 36 26 18 19 22 17 18 18 17 19 16 26. seqidno52 74 73 74 72 60 99 27 36 26 18 19 22 16 18 18 17 19 17 27. seqidno54 46 43 47 47 41 46 46 17 81 12 16 20 15 17 15 16 16 13 28. seqidno56 53 53 53 53 47 47 46 30 19 16 19 15 15 15 13 14 16 17 29. seqidno58 43 42 43 46 40 41 41 90 31 16 17 20 16 17 14 14 17 17 30. seqidno60 28 31 30 26 38 34 34 28 28 28 23 42 20 73 24 20 22 34 31. seqidno62 40 38 40 39 43 38 38 26 29 28 38 17 22 22 20 19 19 18 32. seqidno64 38 36 37 35 35 39 38 34 35 34 53 30 18 44 17 16 19 35 33. seqidno66 29 29 28 24 31 25 25 25 26 27 34 35 27 21 21 19 20 21 34. seqidno68 34 32 33 34 42 34 34 30 29 31 81 42 54 34 20 18 22 31 35. seqidno70 25 26 27 28 30 27 27 27 27 27 38 32 26 33 33 57 33 20 36. seqidno72 26 25 23 27 29 26 26 28 24 26 36 32 26 33 33 73 30 19 37. seqidno74 26 27 27 29 27 31 30 29 24 28 36 30 30 35 35 46 48 17 38. seqidno76 36 32 38 35 35 36 39 28 34 29 50 37 49 35 48 32 32 33

Example 4 Identification of Domains Comprised in Polypeptide Sequences Useful in Performing the Methods of the Invention

The Conserved Domain Search service (CD-Search) is a web-based tool for the detection of structural and functional domains in protein sequences, hosted at NCBI. CD-Search uses BLAST(R) to search a comprehensive collection of domain models. Search results are displayed as domain architecture cartoons and pairwise alignments between the query and domain-model consensus sequences (Marchler-Bauer A, Bryant S H (2004), “CD-Search: protein domain annotations on the fly”, Nucleic Acids Res. 32 (W)327-331). A search (using default values) performed using a 2-Cys PRX as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2, gives as top hit is entry CD3015, PRX_Typ2cys (FIG. 2, Table A3).

TABLE A3 CDD of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2. Data- Accession Accession base number name Description CDD CD3015 PRX_ Peroxiredoxin (PRX) family, Typical Typ2cys 2-Cys PRX subfamily; PRXs are thiol- specific antioxidant (TSA) proteins, which confer a protective role in cells through its peroxidase activity by reducing hydrogen peroxide, peroxynitrite, and organic hydroperoxides

Example 5 Subcellular Localisation Prediction of the Polypeptide Sequences Useful in Performing the Methods of the Invention

TargetP 1.1 predicts the subcellular location of eukaryotic proteins. The location assignment is based on the predicted presence of any of the N-terminal pre-sequences: chloroplast transit peptide (cTP), mitochondrial targeting peptide (mTP) or secretory pathway signal peptide (SP). Scores on which the final prediction is based are not really probabilities, and they do not necessarily add to one. However, the location with the highest score is the most likely according to TargetP, and the relationship between the scores (the reliability class) may be an indication of how certain the prediction is. The reliability class (RC) ranges from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the strongest prediction. TargetP is maintained at the server of the Technical University of Denmark.

For the sequences predicted to contain an N-terminal presequence a potential cleavage site can also be predicted.

A number of parameters were selected, such as organism group (non-plant or plant), cutoff sets (none, predefined set of cutoffs, or user-specified set of cutoffs), and the calculation of prediction of cleavage sites (yes or no).

The results of TargetP 1.1 analysis of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 are presented Table A4. The “plant” organism group has been selected, no cutoffs defined, and the predicted length of the transit peptide requested. The predicted subcellular localization of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 is the plastidic compartment.

TABLE A4 TargetP 1.1 analysis of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 Length (AA) 268 Chloroplastic transit peptide 0.987 Mitochondrial transit peptide 0.014 Secretory pathway signal peptide 0.023 Other subcellular targeting 0.018 Predicted Location Chloro Reliability class 1 Predicted transit peptide length 58

The predicted length according to TargetP1.1 is of 58 amino acids (starting from the N-terminus), but this can only be verified experimentally by sequencing the mature protein. Cheong et al (1999) predict a 65 amino acid transit peptide for the polypeptide as represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 (Plant Molec Biol 40: 825-834).

Many other algorithms can be used to perform such analyses, including:

-   -   ChloroP 1.1 hosted on the server of the Technical University of         Denmark;     -   Protein Prowler Subcellular Localisation Predictor version 1.2         hosted on the server of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience,         University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;     -   PENCE Proteome Analyst PA-GOSUB 2.5 hosted on the server of the         University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;     -   TMHMM, hosted on the server of the Technical University of         Denmark

Example 6 Functional Assay for a 2-Cys PRX Polypeptide

2-Cys PRX polypeptides present peroxidase activity on hydrogen peroxide, for example. Enzyme assays for 2-Cys PRX proteins have been extensively described in the literature, and are well-know to a person skilled in the art. Huang et al. (2007; Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 74(1):84-92), Bernier-Villamor et al. (2004; J Exp Bot 55(406):2191-9) and Caporaletti et al. (2007; Biochem Biophys Res Commun 355(3):722-7) are recent publications describing the enzymatic assay of 2-Cys PRX proteins.

Example 7 Cloning of the Nucleic Acid Sequence Used in the Methods of the Invention

The nucleic acid sequence used in the methods of the invention was amplified by PCR using as template a Brassica rapa 2-Cys PRX clone as described in Cheong et al., (1999; Plant Molec Biol). PCR was performed using Hifi Taq DNA polymerase in standard conditions, using 200 ng of template in a 50 μl PCR mix. The primers used were prm08756 (SEQ ID NO: 81; sense, start codon in bold): 5′-ggggacaagtttgtacaaaaaagcaggcttaaacaatggcgt ctgttgcttctt-3′ and prm08757 (SEQ ID NO: 82; reverse, complementary): 5′-gg ggaccactttgtacaagaaagctgggttcgagctaaatagctgagaagag-3′, which include the AttB sites for Gateway recombination. The amplified PCR fragment was purified also using standard methods. The first step of the Gateway procedure, the BP reaction, was then performed, during which the PCR fragment recombines in vivo with the pDONR201 plasmid to produce, according to the Gateway terminology, an “entry clone”, p2-Cys PRX. Plasmid pDONR201 was purchased from Invitrogen, as part of the Gateway® technology.

The entry clone comprising SEQ ID NO: 1 was then used in an LR reaction with two destination vectors used for Oryza sativa transformation. The vectors contained as functional elements within the T-DNA borders: a plant selectable marker; a screenable marker expression cassette; and a Gateway cassette intended for LR in vivo recombination with the nucleic acid sequence of interest already cloned in the entry clone. The first destination vector comprised upstream of this Gateway cassette the rice GOS2 promoter (SEQ ID NO: 79) for strong constitutive expression, and the second destination vector comprised the rice Rcc3 promoter for root-specific expression (SEQ ID NO: 80).

After the LR recombination step, the resulting expression vectors pGOS2::2-Cys PRX and pRcc3::2-Cys PRX (FIG. 5) were separately transformed into Agrobacterium strain LBA4044 according to methods well known in the art.

Example 8 Plant Transformation Rice Transformation

The two Agrobacterium strains each containing one of the expression vectors as described in Example 7, used to transform Oryza sativa plants. Mature dry seeds of the rice japonica cultivar Nipponbare were dehusked. Sterilization was carried out by incubating for one minute in 70% ethanol, followed by 30 minutes in 0.2% HgCl₂, followed by a 6 times 15 minutes wash with sterile distilled water. The sterile seeds were then germinated on a medium containing 2,4-D (callus induction medium). After incubation in the dark for four weeks, embryogenic, scutellum-derived calli were excised and propagated on the same medium. After two weeks, the calli were multiplied or propagated by subculture on the same medium for another 2 weeks. Embryogenic callus pieces were sub-cultured on fresh medium 3 days before co-cultivation (to boost cell division activity).

Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 containing the expression vector was used for co-cultivation. Agrobacterium was inoculated on AB medium with the appropriate antibiotics and cultured for 3 days at 28° C. The bacteria were then collected and suspended in liquid co-cultivation medium to a density (OD₆₀₀) of about 1. The suspension was then transferred to a Petri dish and the calli immersed in the suspension for 15 minutes. The callus tissues were then blotted dry on a filter paper and transferred to solidified, co-cultivation medium and incubated for 3 days in the dark at 25° C. Co-cultivated calli were grown on 2,4-D-containing medium for 4 weeks in the dark at 28° C. in the presence of a selection agent. During this period, rapidly growing resistant callus islands developed. After transfer of this material to a regeneration medium and incubation in the light, the embryogenic potential was released and shoots developed in the next four to five weeks. Shoots were excised from the calli and incubated for 2 to 3 weeks on an auxin-containing medium from which they were transferred to soil. Hardened shoots were grown under high humidity and short days in a greenhouse.

Approximately 35 independent T0 rice transformants were generated for one construct. The primary transformants were transferred from a tissue culture chamber to a greenhouse. After a quantitative PCR analysis to verify copy number of the T-DNA insert, only single copy transgenic plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent were kept for harvest of T1 seed. Seeds were then harvested three to five months after transplanting. The method yielded single locus transformants at a rate of over 50% (Aldemita and Hodges 1996, Chan et al. 1993, Hiei et al. 1994).

Example 9 Phenotypic Evaluation Procedure 9.1 Evaluation Setup

Approximately 35 independent T0 rice transformants were generated. The primary transformants were transferred from a tissue culture chamber to a greenhouse for growing and harvest of T1 seed. Six events, of which the T1 progeny segregated 3:1 for presence/absence of the transgene, were retained. For each of these events, approximately 10 T1 seedlings containing the transgene (hetero- and homo-zygotes) and approximately 10 T1 seedlings lacking the transgene (nullizygotes) were selected by monitoring visual marker expression. The transgenic plants and the corresponding nullizygotes were grown side-by-side at random positions. Greenhouse conditions were of shorts days (12 hours light), 28° C. in the light and 22° C. in the dark, and a relative humidity of 70%.

Four T1 events were further evaluated in the T2 generation following the same evaluation procedure as for the T1 generation but with more individuals per event. From the stage of sowing until the stage of maturity the plants were passed several times through a digital imaging cabinet. At each time point digital images (2048×1536 pixels, 16 million colours) were taken of each plant from at least 6 different angles.

Drought Screen

Plants from T2 seeds from 4 events were grown in potting soil under normal conditions until they approached the heading stage. They were then transferred to a “dry” section where irrigation was withheld. Humidity probes were inserted in randomly chosen pots to monitor the soil water content (SWC). When SWC went below certain thresholds, the plants were automatically re-watered continuously until a normal level was reached again. The plants were then re-transferred again to normal conditions. The rest of the cultivation (plant maturation, seed harvest) was the same as for plants not grown under abiotic stress conditions. Growth and yield parameters were recorded as detailed for growth under normal conditions.

9.2 Statistical Analysis: F Test

A two factor ANOVA (analysis of variants) was used as a statistical model for the overall evaluation of plant phenotypic characteristics. An F test was carried out on all the parameters measured of all the plants of all the events transformed with the gene of the present invention. The F test was carried out to check for an effect of the gene over all the transformation events and to verify for an overall effect of the gene, also known as a global gene effect. The threshold for significance for a true global gene effect was set at a 5% probability level for the F test. A significant F test value points to a gene effect, meaning that it is not only the mere presence or position of the gene that is causing the differences in phenotype.

Because two experiments with overlapping events were carried out, a combined analysis was performed. This is useful to check consistency of the effects over the two experiments, and if this is the case, to accumulate evidence from both experiments in order to increase confidence in the conclusion. The method used was a mixed-model approach that takes into account the multilevel structure of the data (i.e. experiment-event-segregants). P values were obtained by comparing likelihood ratio test to chi square distributions.

9.3 Parameters Measured Biomass-Related Parameter Measurement

From the stage of sowing until the stage of maturity the plants were passed several times through a digital imaging cabinet. At each time 2-Cys PRXnt digital images (2048×1536 pixels, 16 million colours) were taken of each plant from at least 6 different angles.

The early vigour is the plant (seedling) aboveground area three weeks post-germination. Early vigour was determined by counting the total number of pixels from aboveground plant parts discriminated from the background. This value was averaged for the pictures taken on the same time point from different angles and was converted to a physical surface value expressed in square mm by calibration. The results described below are for plants three weeks post-germination.

The plant aboveground area (or leafy biomass) was determined by counting the total number of pixels on the digital images from aboveground plant parts discriminated from the background. This value was averaged for the pictures taken on the same time point from the different angles and was converted to a physical surface value expressed in square mm by calibration. Experiments show that the aboveground plant area measured this way correlates with the biomass of plant parts above ground. The above ground area is the area measured at the time point at which the plant had reached its maximal leafy biomass.

To measure root-related parameters, plants were grown in specially designed pots with transparent bottoms to allow visualization of the roots. A digital camera recorded images through the bottom of the pot during plant growth. Root features such as total projected area (which can be correlated to total root volume), average diameter and length of roots above a certain thickness threshold (length of thick roots, or thick root length) were deduced from the picture using of appropriate software. Increase in root biomass is expressed as an increase in total root biomass (measured as maximum biomass of roots observed during the lifespan of a plant); or as an increase in the root/shoot index (measured as the ratio between root mass and shoot mass in the period of active growth of root and shoot).

Seed-Related Parameter Measurements

The mature primary panicles were harvested, counted, bagged, barcode-labelled and then dried for three days in an oven at 37° C. The panicles were then threshed and all the seeds were collected and counted. The filled husks were separated from the empty ones using an air-blowing device. The empty husks were discarded and the remaining fraction was counted again. The filled husks were weighed on an analytical balance. The number of filled seeds was determined by counting the number of filled husks that remained after the separation step. The total seed yield was measured by weighing all filled husks harvested from a plant. Total seed number per plant was measured by counting the number of husks harvested from a plant. Thousand Kernel Weight (TKW) is extrapolated from the number of filled seeds counted and their total weight. The Harvest Index (HI) in the present invention is defined as the ratio between the total seed yield and the above ground area (mm²), multiplied by a factor 10⁶. The total number of flowers per panicle as defined in the present invention is the ratio between the total number of seeds and the number of mature primary panicles. The seed fill rate as defined in the present invention is the proportion (expressed as a %) of the number of filled seeds over the total number of seeds (or florets).

Example 10 Results of the Phenotypic Evaluation of the Transgenic Plants, Grown Under Normal Growth Conditions

The results of the evaluation of transgenic rice plants expressing a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide under the control of a root-specific promoter, and grown under normal growth conditions, are presented below. Improved early vigour was observed, as well as increased seed fill rate, increased total seed yield per plant, increased number of filled seeds, increased harvest index, and increased thousand kernel weight.

TABLE A5 Results of the evaluation of transgenic rice plants expressing the nucleic acid sequence useful in performing the methods of the invention, under the control of a root-specific-promoter, grown under normal growth conditions. % Increase for the % Increase for the three best events three best events Trait in T1 generation in T2 generation Early vigour (seedlings) 7% 5% Seed fill rate 1% 10%  Total seed yield per plant 8% 10%  Total numbers of filled seeds 6% 8% Harvest index 7% 9% Thousand kernel weight 3% 3%

Transgenic rice plants expressing a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide under the control of a constitutive promoter (a rice GOS2 promoter), and grown under normal growth conditions, showed no difference in any of the traits phenotypically examined as compared to control plants grown under comparable normal growth conditions (data not shown).

Example 11 Results of the Phenotypic Evaluation of the Transgenic Plants, Grown Under Stress Growth Conditions

The results of the evaluation of transgenic rice plants expressing a nucleic acid sequence encoding a 2-Cys PRX polypeptide under the control of a root-specific promoter, and grown under drought-stress growth conditions, are presented below. Improved early vigour was observed, as well as increased aboveground biomass, increased root biomass, increased number of flowers per panicle, increased seed fill rate, increased total seed yield per plant, increased number of seeds, increased number of filled seeds, and increased harvest index.

TABLE A6 Results of the evaluation of transgenic rice plants expressing the nucleic acid sequence useful in performing the methods of the invention, under the control of a root-specific- promoter, grown under drought-stress growth conditions. Trait % Increase in T2 generation (all events) Early vigour (seedlings) 31% Aboveground biomass 11% Root biomass  6% Flowers per panicle  8% Seed fill rate  8% Total seed yield per plant 18% Total number of seeds 10% Total numbers of filled seeds 17% Harvest index  8%

Example 12 Examples of Transformation of Other Crops Corn Transformation

Transformation of maize (Zea mays) is performed with a modification of the method described by Ishida et al. (1996) Nature Biotech 14(6): 745-50. Transformation is genotype-dependent in corn and only specific genotypes are amenable to transformation and regeneration. The inbred line A188 (University of Minnesota) or hybrids with A188 as a parent are good sources of donor material for transformation, but other genotypes can be used successfully as well. Ears are harvested from corn plant approximately 11 days after pollination (DAP) when the length of the immature embryo is about 1 to 1.2 mm. Immature embryos are cocultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the expression vector, and transgenic plants are recovered through organogenesis. Excised embryos are grown on callus induction medium, then maize regeneration medium, containing the selection agent (for example imidazolinone but various selection markers can be used). The Petri plates are incubated in the light at 25° C. for 2-3 weeks, or until shoots develop. The green shoots are transferred from each embryo to maize rooting medium and incubated at 25° C. for 2-3 weeks, until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.

Wheat Transformation

Transformation of wheat is performed with the method described by Ishida et al. (1996) Nature Biotech 14(6): 745-50. The cultivar Bobwhite (available from CIMMYT, Mexico) is commonly used in transformation. Immature embryos are co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the expression vector, and transgenic plants are recovered through organogenesis. After incubation with Agrobacterium, the embryos are grown in vitro on callus induction medium, then regeneration medium, containing the selection agent (for example imidazolinone but various selection markers can be used). The Petri plates are incubated in the light at 25° C. for 2-3 weeks, or until shoots develop. The green shoots are transferred from each embryo to rooting medium and incubated at 25° C. for 2-3 weeks, until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.

Soybean Transformation

Soybean is transformed according to a modification of the method described in the Texas A&M U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,310. Several commercial soybean varieties are amenable to transformation by this method. The cultivar Jack (available from the Illinois Seed foundation) is commonly used for transformation. Soybean seeds are sterilised for in vitro sowing. The hypocotyl, the radicle and one cotyledon are excised from seven-day old young seedlings. The epicotyl and the remaining cotyledon are further grown to develop axillary nodes. These axillary nodes are excised and incubated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing the expression vector. After the cocultivation treatment, the explants are washed and transferred to selection media. Regenerated shoots are excised and placed on a shoot elongation medium. Shoots no longer than 1 cm are placed on rooting medium until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.

Rapeseed/Canola Transformation

Cotyledonary petioles and hypocotyls of 5-6 day old young seedling are used as explants for tissue culture and transformed according to Babic et al. (1998, Plant Cell Rep 17: 183-188). The commercial cultivar Westar (Agriculture Canada) is the standard variety used for transformation, but other varieties can also be used. Canola seeds are surface-sterilized for in vitro sowing. The cotyledon petiole explants with the cotyledon attached are excised from the in vitro seedlings, and inoculated with Agrobacterium (containing the expression vector) by dipping the cut end of the petiole explant into the bacterial suspension. The explants are then cultured for 2 days on MSBAP-3 medium containing 3 mg/l BAP, 3% sucrose, 0.7% Phytagar at 23° C., 16 hr light. After two days of co-cultivation with Agrobacterium, the petiole explants are transferred to MSBAP-3 medium containing 3 mg/l BAP, cefotaxime, carbenicillin, or timentin (300 mg/l) for 7 days, and then cultured on MSBAP-3 medium with cefotaxime, carbenicillin, or timentin and selection agent until shoot regeneration. When the shoots are 5-10 mm in length, they are cut and transferred to shoot elongation medium (MSBAP-0.5, containing 0.5 mg/l BAP). Shoots of about 2 cm in length are transferred to the rooting medium (MS0) for root induction. The rooted shoots are transplanted to soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.

Alfalfa Transformation

A regenerating clone of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is transformed using the method of (McKersie et al., 1999 Plant Physiol 119: 839-847). Regeneration and transformation of alfalfa is genotype dependent and therefore a regenerating plant is required. Methods to obtain regenerating plants have been described. For example, these can be selected from the cultivar Rangelander (Agriculture Canada) or any other commercial alfalfa variety as described by Brown D C W and A Atanassov (1985. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Culture 4: 111-112). Alternatively, the RA3 variety (University of Wisconsin) has been selected for use in tissue culture (Walker et al., 1978 Am J Bot 65:654-659). Petiole explants are cocultivated with an overnight culture of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1 pMP90 (McKersie et al., 1999 Plant Physiol 119: 839-847) or LBA4404 containing the expression vector. The explants are cocultivated for 3 d in the dark on SH induction medium containing 288 mg/L Pro, 53 mg/L thioproline, 4.35 g/L K2SO4, and 100 μm acetosyringinone. The explants are washed in half-strength Murashige-Skoog medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) and plated on the same SH induction medium without acetosyringinone but with a suitable selection agent and suitable antibiotic to inhibit Agrobacterium growth. After several weeks, somatic embryos are transferred to BOi2Y development medium containing no growth regulators, no antibiotics, and 50 g/L sucrose. Somatic embryos are subsequently germinated on half-strength Murashige-Skoog medium. Rooted seedlings were transplanted into pots and grown in a greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.

Cotton Transformation

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) transformation is performed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens, on hypocotyls explants. The commercial cultivars such as Coker 130 or Coker 312 (SeedCo, Lubbock, Tex.) are standard varieties used for transformation, but other varieties can also be used. The seeds are surface sterilized and germinated in the dark. Hypocotyl explants are cut from the germinated seedlings to lengths of about 1-1.5 centimeter. The hypotocyl explant is submersed in the Agrobacterium tumefaciens inoculum containing the expression vector, for 5 minutes then co-cultivated for about 48 hours on MS +1.8 mg/l KNO3+2% glucose at 24° C., in the dark. The explants are transferred the same medium containing appropriate bacterial and plant selectable markers (renewed several times), until embryogenic calli is seen. The calli are separated and subcultured until somatic embryos appear. Plantlets derived from the somatic embryos are matured on rooting medium until roots develop. The rooted shoots are transplanted to potting soil in the greenhouse. T1 seeds are produced from plants that exhibit tolerance to the selection agent and that contain a single copy of the T-DNA insert.

Example 13 Examples of Other Stress Screens Salt Stress Screen

Plants are grown on a substrate made of coco fibers and argex (3 to 1 ratio). A normal nutrient solution is used during the first two weeks after transplanting the plantlets in the greenhouse. After the first two weeks, 25 mM of salt (NaCl) is added to the nutrient solution, until the plants were harvested.

Reduced Nutrient (Nitrogen) Availability Screen

Rice plants from T2 seeds are grown in potting soil under normal conditions except for the nutrient solution. The pots are watered from transplantation to maturation with a specific nutrient solution containing reduced N nitrogen (N) content, usually between 7 to 8 times less. The rest of the cultivation (plant maturation, seed harvest) is the same as for plants not grown under abiotic stress. Growth and yield parameters are recorded as detailed for growth under normal conditions.

Example 14 Identification of Sequences Related to the Nucleic Acid Sequence Used in the Methods of the Invention

Sequences (full length cDNA, ESTs or genomic) related to the nucleic acid sequence used in the methods of the present invention were identified amongst those maintained in the Entrez Nucleotides database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) using database sequence search tools, such as the Basic Local Alignment Tool (BLAST) (Altschul et al. (1990) J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410; and Altschul et al. (1997) Nucleic Acids Res. 25:3389-3402). The program is used to find regions of local similarity between sequences by comparing nucleic acid or polypeptide sequences to sequence databases and by calculating the statistical significance of matches. For example, the polypeptide encoded by the nucleic acid used in the present invention was used for the TBLASTN algorithm, with default settings and the filter to ignore low complexity sequences set off. The output of the analysis was viewed by pairwise comparison, and ranked according to the probability score (E-value), where the score reflect the probability that a particular alignment occurs by chance (the lower the E-value, the more significant the hit). In addition to E-values, comparisons were also scored by percentage identity. Percentage identity refers to the number of identical nucleotides (or amino acids) between the two compared nucleic acid (or polypeptide) sequences over a particular length. In some instances, the default parameters may be adjusted to modify the stringency of the search. For example the E-value may be increased to show less stringent matches. This way, short nearly exact matches may be identified.

Table B1 provides a list of nucleic acid sequences related to the nucleic acid sequence useful in the methods of the present invention.

TABLE B1 Examples of ANN polypeptides: Nucleic acid Protein Plant Source SEQ ID NO: SEQ ID NO: Arabidopsis thaliana ANNAT1 83 84 Gossypium hirsutum fiber annexin 96 97 Lavatera thuringiaca annexin 98 99 Brassica rapa subsp. Pekinensis 80C09_22 100 101 Gossypium hirsutum annexin 102 103 Capsicum annuum Annexin 24 104 105 Nicotiana tabacum VCaB42 106 107 Gossypium hirsutum Anx1 108 109 Nicotiana tabacum annexin 110 111 Solanum tuberosum annexin p34 112 113 Lycopersicon esculentum annexin p34 114 115 Lycopersicon esculentum annexin p35 116 117 Arabidopsis thaliana ANNAT2 118 119 Nicotiana tabacum annexin 120 121 Solanum tuberosum annexin p34-like 122 123 Arabidopsis thaliana ANN7 124 125 Medicago sativa annexin 126 127 Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis 80A08_20 128 129 Arabidopsis thaliana ANNAT3 130 131 Arabidopsis thaliana annexin 5 132 133 Arabidopsis thaliana ANNAT4 134 135 Arabidopsis thaliana ANN6 136 137 Arabidopsis thaliana ANN8 At5g12380 138 139 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 140 141 Os09g0394900 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 142 143 Os02g0753800 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 144 145 Os08g0425700 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 146 147 Os06g0221200 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 148 149 Os09g0453300 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 150 151 Os05g0382900 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 152 153 Os08g0372900 Oryza sativa (japonica cultivar-group) 154 155 Os03g0819300

In some instances, related sequences have tentatively been assembled and publicly disclosed by research institutions, such as The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR). The Eukaryotic Gene Orthologs (EGO) database may be used to identify such related sequences, either by keyword search or by using the BLAST algorithm with the nucleic acid or polypeptide sequence of interest.

Example 15 Alignment of ANN Polypeptide Sequences

Alignment of polypeptide sequences was performed using the AlignX programme from the Vector NTI (Invitrogen) which is based on the popular Clustal W algorithm of progressive alignment (Thompson et al. (1997) Nucleic Acids Res 25:4876-4882; Chenna et al. (2003). Nucleic Acids Res 31:3497-3500). Default values are for the gap open penalty of 10, for the gap extension penalty of 0, 1 and the selected weight matrix is Blosum 62 (if polypeptides are aligned). Minor manual editing was done to further optimise the alignment. Sequence conservation among ANN polypeptides is found throughout the whole sequence. The ANN polypeptides are aligned in FIG. 9.

A phylogenetic tree of ANN polypeptides (such as the one from FIG. 8) may be constructed using a neighbour-joining clustering algorithm as provided in the AlignX programme from the Vector NTI (Invitrogen).

Example 16 Calculation of Global Percentage Identity Between Polypeptide Sequences Useful in Performing the Methods of the Invention

Global percentages of similarity and identity between full length polypeptide sequences useful in performing the methods of the invention were determined using one of the methods available in the art, the MatGAT (Matrix Global Alignment Tool) software (BMC Bioinformatics. 2003 4:29. MatGAT: an application that generates similarity/identity matrices using protein or DNA sequences. Campanella J J, Bitincka L, Smalley J; software hosted by Ledion Bitincka). MatGAT software generates similarity/identity matrices for DNA or protein sequences without needing pre-alignment of the data. The program performs a series of pair-wise alignments using the Myers and Miller global alignment algorithm (with a gap opening penalty of 12, and a gap extension penalty of 2), calculates similarity and identity using for example Blosum 62 (for polypeptides), and then places the results in a distance matrix. Sequence similarity is shown in the bottom half of the dividing line and sequence identity is shown in the top half of the diagonal dividing line.

Parameters used in the comparison were:

Scoring matrix: Blosum62 First Gap: 12 Extending gap: 2

Results of the software analysis are shown in Table B2 for the global similarity and identity over the full length of the polypeptide sequences. Percentage identity is given above the diagonal in bold and percentage similarity is given below the diagonal (normal face).

The percentage identity between the ANN polypeptide sequences useful in performing the methods of the invention can be as low as about 30% amino acid identity compared to SEQ ID NO: 84 (NP_(—)174810).

TABLE B2 MatGAT results for global similarity and identity over the full length of the polypeptide sequences. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. NP_174810 72.6 71.0 29.9 68.6 65.2 67.5 67.8 2. AAC33305 84.5 89.9 32.1 71.6 71.6 68.0 72.8 3. AAB71830 84.5 94.3 30.6 68.8 67.0 64.2 68.7 4. AAZ41833 36.4 37.4 36.8 32.6 29.4 33.4 33.9 5. AAB67994 82.3 84.5 83.2 38.7 63.1 72.2 85.5 6. 1DK5 83.9 83.9 81.7 37.7 79.2 63.6 64.5 7. AAD24540 81.1 82.6 81.0 38.7 83.9 77.6 74.4 8. AAR13288 81.7 84.5 82.6 39.3 92.7 78.6 84.8 9. CAA75213 84.2 85.1 83.2 37.4 81.0 95.7 79.1 80.4 10. CAB92956 83.9 85.4 83.5 37.6 80.6 95.3 79.1 80.4 11. AAC97494 83.9 85.4 83.5 37.6 80.6 95.3 79.1 80.4 12. AAC97493 80.8 80.4 79.4 37.8 82.9 77.6 92.1 85.8 13. NP_201307 79.8 81.4 80.1 44.5 85.5 79.2 83.9 84.5 14. CAA75214 83.6 84.2 82.3 37.1 80.0 94.7 78.2 79.7 15. ABB55363 83.3 84.8 82.9 37.3 79.7 94.7 78.5 79.7 16. NP_196585 80.4 80.4 79.1 41.2 84.2 78.9 82.0 82.6 17. CAA52903 80.8 82.0 81.6 38.6 83.8 79.2 82.3 83.2 18. AAZ67605 79.2 79.1 79.1 41.1 82.6 78.0 81.6 82.0 19. NP_181410 59.2 58.6 58.6 27.8 61.4 58.4 61.7 63.2 20. ABE65753 58.4 56.3 54.7 27.0 58.5 54.0 56.6 59.5 21. NP_181409 56.4 55.2 53.6 25.3 53.9 54.7 54.5 54.2 22. NP_196584 77.4 78.9 78.6 41.2 81.8 78.0 81.1 81.8 23. NP_568271 69.4 67.1 67.7 30.9 68.4 66.5 66.8 69.0 24. NP_001063096 55.8 55.7 53.8 27.4 59.0 54.7 57.0 58.5 25. NP_001048149 76.0 78.5 77.5 35.2 79.4 74.5 75.3 79.1 26. NP_001061839 55.1 54.5 52.6 27.1 57.6 53.7 57.0 56.1 27. NP_001057176 78.2 79.8 80.1 35.2 79.5 75.8 77.0 79.5 28. NP_001063343 53.0 53.6 52.4 26.1 53.6 50.3 52.0 52.0 29. NP_001055408 54.3 52.7 53.0 30.2 53.8 55.1 53.8 54.3 30. NP_001061661 27.8 27.6 27.3 24.9 26.8 24.2 28.4 26.8 31. NP_001051711 17.7 16.8 17.1 10.2 16.5 17.4 14.2 16.8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1. NP_174810 65.6 66.2 65.9 65.9 64.0 65.6 64.9 63.1 2. AAC33305 72.8 72.8 73.4 65.5 67.5 71.8 71.4 66.5 3. AAB71830 69.0 68.7 69.0 63.3 64.4 68.0 67.3 63.3 4. AAZ41833 29.6 30.0 30.2 32.4 41.8 29.3 29.5 35.9 5. AAB67994 63.4 63.1 63.1 70.3 70.1 63.1 62.1 68.1 6. 1DK5 91.0 91.9 91.6 62.0 61.8 90.7 90.4 62.0 7. AAD24540 63.9 64.2 64.9 87.0 70.3 63.6 62.9 69.3 8. AAR13288 65.2 65.2 66.5 73.7 71.0 65.2 63.8 70.3 9. CAA75213 92.4 92.7 62.0 64.4 97.1 90.8 64.6 10. CAB92956 97.8 98.4 63.6 64.4 92.4 98.4 63.9 11. AAC97494 97.8 100.0 64.2 64.4 92.7 96.8 64.9 12. AAC97493 79.4 79.4 79.4 68.1 62.7 62.3 68.0 13. NP_201307 80.1 80.4 80.4 81.4 63.1 63.0 79.2 14. CAA75214 98.4 97.5 97.5 79.0 79.5 90.8 63.9 15. ABB55363 96.5 98.7 98.7 78.8 79.8 96.2 62.6 16. NP_196585 80.4 81.0 81.0 80.7 89.9 79.7 80.4 17. CAA52903 81.5 81.5 81.5 80.3 83.3 80.9 80.4 81.0 18. AAZ67605 79.4 79.7 79.7 80.1 89.9 78.8 79.1 95.6 19. NP_181410 58.6 58.9 58.9 60.1 57.6 58.3 58.9 59.5 20. ABE65753 54.7 55.1 55.1 55.4 58.0 55.7 55.1 58.9 21. NP_181409 55.8 55.8 55.8 54.9 53.9 55.8 55.8 53.0 22. NP_196584 78.3 79.2 78.9 80.2 88.4 77.4 78.6 91.2 23. NP_568271 66.8 68.0 67.7 66.5 66.9 66.8 68.0 67.7 24. NP_001063096 54.9 54.6 54.6 57.5 59.0 55.2 54.4 59.2 25. NP_001048149 77.1 77.1 77.1 74.9 76.0 76.1 75.9 76.6 26. NP_001061839 55.1 53.9 53.9 56.1 58.3 54.8 53.6 57.9 27. NP_001057176 76.7 77.0 77.0 74.8 76.3 75.7 76.7 74.8 28. NP_001063343 50.8 51.1 51.1 51.4 52.4 50.8 50.8 53.0 29. NP_001055408 53.0 53.2 53.2 53.5 53.8 53.2 53.2 53.8 30. NP_001061661 28.1 27.3 27.3 29.1 29.4 28.1 29.4 28.1 31. NP_001051711 17.2 17.5 17.8 16.8 16.4 16.2 17.1 15.2 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1. NP_174810 65.0 62.8 38.5 34.3 32.3 60.8 49.4 35.5 2. AAC33305 69.3 64.9 41.0 35.6 34.2 63.8 51.1 37.4 3. AAB71830 68.4 62.3 39.8 34.1 33.0 61.3 49.2 35.3 4. AAZ41833 33.1 35.3 19.9 17.5 16.8 34.8 22.7 19.2 5. AAB67994 70.5 67.5 39.6 34.9 35.1 64.9 51.3 36.8 6. 1DK5 63.6 61.1 40.0 33.5 34.2 59.8 48.6 35.2 7. AAD24540 69.6 69.3 42.5 36.9 33.7 67.6 51.4 37.2 8. AAR13288 69.3 68.7 43.5 36.6 35.3 67.3 51.7 37.5 9. CAA75213 64.2 62.7 41.9 35.6 35.0 61.9 48.6 36.5 10. CAB92956 65.2 62.7 41.3 35.3 34.1 61.6 49.2 35.5 11. AAC97494 65.8 63.6 42.2 35.0 34.7 62.3 49.5 35.5 12. AAC97493 66.5 67.4 40.4 36.0 33.4 65.4 49.8 36.9 13. NP_201307 69.7 78.9 42.2 37.4 34.9 74.9 48.1 40.4 14. CAA75214 63.0 62.3 41.0 35.0 34.7 61.6 48.9 35.3 15. ABB55363 63.8 61.3 40.4 34.5 34.1 60.3 48.3 35.3 16. NP_196585 69.0 89.9 41.9 38.2 34.7 82.4 50.5 38.7 17. CAA52903 68.4 40.8 35.1 33.8 67.0 49.1 36.3 18. AAZ67605 81.3 40.4 36.0 33.8 82.4 50.2 37.5 19. NP_181410 58.3 58.3 31.9 33.6 41.4 45.5 33.4 20. ABE65753 54.7 58.5 51.7 27.4 36.1 34.3 53.2 21. NP_181409 51.4 52.0 54.2 47.6 32.6 34.7 30.1 22. NP_196584 80.8 91.5 58.6 58.5 51.7 49.5 37.9 23. NP_568271 68.0 68.4 63.2 56.6 55.8 66.0 36.5 24. NP_001063096 57.1 58.9 55.1 72.2 46.1 59.1 58.9 25. NP_001048149 77.1 75.9 60.1 57.9 51.1 74.2 67.1 59.7 26. NP_001061839 55.5 57.0 54.5 69.2 46.4 58.6 57.3 84.4 27. NP_001057176 76.3 74.4 60.4 56.8 48.6 74.2 69.1 57.4 28. NP_001063343 48.3 52.0 48.6 48.9 50.2 52.4 50.2 50.2 29. NP_001055408 52.4 53.5 60.2 44.9 47.3 53.0 55.6 46.5 30. NP_001061661 25.8 27.3 26.3 26.0 28.9 27.3 27.6 26.5 31. NP_001051711 19.2 16.8 16.8 17.1 17.2 16.7 19.0 19.0 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1. NP_174810 59.6 36.8 60.2 28.4 37.2 12.4 11.3 2. AAC33305 63.3 38.8 64.5 30.2 38.9 14.1 10.1 3. AAB71830 59.8 36.0 61.9 29.1 37.8 15.1 9.2 4. AAZ41833 29.0 19.0 28.9 14.6 21.5 14.4 8.0 5. AAB67994 63.1 39.0 61.8 30.6 39.0 12.5 10.1 6. 1DK5 60.8 33.9 59.5 29.0 41.3 12.2 10.5 7. AAD24540 61.1 40.7 62.6 28.3 39.4 14.9 9.5 8. AAR13288 63.6 38.8 63.5 30.2 40.8 14.3 7.9 9. CAA75213 62.0 35.6 60.7 30.5 39.1 13.0 10.5 10. CAB92956 62.0 34.8 61.0 29.5 39.1 12.5 9.9 11. AAC97494 63.0 34.8 61.9 29.5 39.7 12.5 8.6 12. AAC97493 59.5 39.8 59.4 28.0 38.3 13.7 11.6 13. NP_201307 59.6 39.6 60.8 27.9 40.1 12.9 10.7 14. CAA75214 60.8 35.3 59.4 29.8 38.9 13.0 9.9 15. ABB55363 61.0 34.0 60.6 29.2 38.4 13.2 10.2 16. NP_196585 61.4 38.8 58.2 28.3 39.4 12.9 11.4 17. CAA52903 60.3 36.0 59.6 27.5 37.6 13.0 9.4 18. AAZ67605 60.1 37.9 56.6 28.3 37.5 12.8 11.1 19. NP_181410 41.1 30.3 42.4 25.5 41.4 15.0 11.1 20. ABE65753 37.0 50.2 35.5 27.0 28.8 14.7 12.3 21. NP_181409 33.0 28.2 31.0 25.4 30.2 14.1 10.3 22. NP_196584 59.1 37.5 58.1 29.0 37.6 12.8 11.3 23. NP_568271 51.1 35.9 52.4 29.2 38.5 13.3 12.3 24. NP_001063096 37.8 68.5 38.6 30.4 29.3 14.0 12.1 25. NP_001048149 37.7 83.9 29.8 37.4 14.6 10.8 26. NP_001061839 57.3 38.4 31.8 30.9 16.8 15.5 27. NP_001057176 90.2 58.3 28.1 39.8 15.4 11.4 28. NP_001063343 49.8 49.2 49.2 19.8 14.6 10.9 29. NP_001055408 51.6 46.5 54.8 38.4 15.5 12.1 30. NP_001061661 29.4 27.6 27.3 28.6 29.1 13.4 31. NP_001051711 17.8 20.6 17.7 19.4 16.4 19.6

Example 17 Identification of Domains Comprised in Polypeptide Sequences Useful in Performing the Methods of the Invention

The Integrated Resource of Protein Families, Domains and Sites (InterPro) database is an integrated interface for the commonly used signature databases for text- and sequence-based searches. The InterPro database combines these databases, which use different methodologies and varying degrees of biological information about well-characterized proteins to derive protein signatures. Collaborating databases include SWISS-PROT, PROSITE, TrEMBL, PRINTS, Propom and Pfam, Smart and TIGRFAMs. Pfam is a large collection of multiple sequence alignments and hidden Markov models covering many common protein domains and families. Pfam is hosted at the Sanger Institute server in the United Kingdom. Interpro is hosted at the European Bioinformatics Institute in the United Kingdom.

The results of the InterPro scan of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 are presented in Table B3.

TABLE B3 InterPro scan results (major accession numbers) of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 84. Amino acid coordinates on Database Accession number Accession name SEQ ID NO 84 PRODOM PD000143 Annexin [16-78]T-[88-153]T-[172-239]T- [246-313]T PRINTS PR00196 ANNEXIN [25-47]T-[65-81]T-[92-113]T- [255-275]T-[299-312]T GENE3D G3DSA:1.10.220.10 Annexin [13-82]T-[83-161]T-[166-238]T- [243-317]T PANTHER PTHR10502 Annexin [9-312]T PFAM PF00191 Annexin [15-80]T-[87-152]T-[170-236]T- [246-311]T SMART SM00335 ANX [28-80]T-[100-152]T-[183- 232]T-[259-311]T PROFILE PS00223 ANNEXIN [259-311]T SUPERFAMILY SSF47874 Annexin [1-316]T PRINTS PR01814 ANNEXINPLANT [119-133]T-[161-181]T-[227- 245]T PANTHER PTHR10502:SF10 Annexin_like [9-312]T

Example 18 Topology Prediction of the Polypeptide Sequences Useful in Performing the Methods of the Invention

TargetP 1.1 predicts the subcellular location of eukaryotic proteins. The location assignment is based on the predicted presence of any of the N-terminal pre-sequences: chloroplast transit peptide (cTP), mitochondrial targeting peptide (mTP) or secretory pathway signal peptide (SP). Scores on which the final prediction is based are not really probabilities, and they do not necessarily add to one. However, the location with the highest score is the most likely according to TargetP, and the relationship between the scores (the reliability class) may be an indication of how certain the prediction is. The reliability class (RC) ranges from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the strongest prediction. TargetP is maintained at the server of the Technical University of Denmark.

For the sequences predicted to contain an N-terminal presequence a potential cleavage site can also be predicted.

A number of parameters were selected, such as organism group (non-plant or plant), cutoff sets (none, predefined set of cutoffs, or user-specified set of cutoffs), and the calculation of prediction of cleavage sites (yes or no).

The results of TargetP 1.1 analysis of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 are presented Table B4. The “plant” organism group has been selected, no cutoffs defined, and the predicted length of the transit peptide requested. The subcellular localization of the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 may be the cytoplasm or nucleus, no transit peptide is predicted. This prediction is in agreement with earlier reports that indicate that annexin proteins are associated to the plasma membrane, vacuole and nuclear periphery (Clark & Roux, Plant Physiol. 109, 1133-1139, 1995).

TABLE B4 TargetP 1.1 analysisof the polypeptide sequence as represented by SEQ ID NO: 84 Length (AA) 317 Chloroplastic transit peptide 0.102 Mitochondrial transit peptide 0.126 Secretory pathway signal peptide 0.045 Other subcellular targeting 0.905 Predicted Location / Reliability class 2 Predicted transit peptide length /

Many other algorithms can be used to perform such analyses, including:

-   -   ChloroP 1.1 hosted on the server of the Technical University of         Denmark;     -   Protein Prowler Subcellular Localisation Predictor version 1.2         hosted on the server of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience,         University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;     -   PENCE Proteome Analyst PA-GOSUB 2.5 hosted on the server of the         University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada;     -   TMHMM, hosted on the server of the Technical University of         Denmark

Example 19 Functional Assay for the ANN Polypeptide

Assay for annexin-membrane interactions (Dabitz et al. Biochemistry 44, 16292-16300, 2005):

Membrane Binding Assay (Copelleting Assay).

Phospholipid vesicles are prepared following the protocol of Reeves and Dowben (J. Cell. Physiol. 73, 49-60, 1969). To assess the plant annexin-membrane binding behavior, a copelleting assay is conducted (Hofmann and Huber, Methods Enzymol. 372, 186-216, 2003). A total amount of 0.2 μmol of phospholipids is used for each individual sample (500 μL), composed of 0.5 nmol of protein in liposome buffer and varying amounts of calcium. As a control, a sample of 0.1 nmol of protein in 100 μL of 10% SDS is prepared at this stage. All samples are centrifuged (23 000 rpm at 4° C. for 45 min), and the pellets are resuspended with 50 μL of 10% SDS and then subjected to SDS-PAGE. Gels are stained with Coomassie and analyzed densitometrically using ImageJ (Rasband, W. ImageJ, version 1.30, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., 2005). Each calcium concentration is assessed three times independently. Curve fitting is performed with SigmaPlot using a standard binding equation.

Phospholipid Vesicle Preparation.

For experiments assessing membrane surface hydrophobicity and liposome leakage, the following protocols are used. Brain phosphatidylserine (PS), egg phosphatidylcholine (PC), egg phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), nitrobenzoxadiazole phosphatidylethanolamine (NBD-PE), and lissamine rhodamine B sulfonyl phosphatidylethanolamine (Rh-PE) are from a commercial supplier. Multilamellar phospholipid vesicles (MLVs) are prepared using the method of Bangham et al. (Preparation and use of liposomes as models of biological membranes, in Methods in Membrane Biology (Korn, E. D., Ed.) pp 1-68, Plenum Press, New York, 1974). The MLVs are converted into large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) by five freeze-thaw cycles and subsequent extrusion (five times) through 0.1 μm Nucleopore filter membranes using an extruder (Lipex Biomembranes, Vancouver, BC) at 30° C. Phosphate determination is performed according to the method of Chen et al. (Anal. Chem. 28, 1756-1758, 1956).

Membrane Surface Hydrophobicity.

An increase in membrane surface hydrophobicity is the result of dehydration of the phospholipid headgroups by either the binding of protein to the membrane surface or the creation of water-free interfaces between two vesicles, which occurs during aggregation. Changing membrane surface hydrophobicity can be observed by labeling vesicles with N-[5-(dimethylamino)-naphthalene-2-sulfonyl)-1,2-dioleoylyl-sn-glycero-3-PE (dansyl-PE), whose emission wavelength is proportional to the dielectric constant of the probe environment. In this context, pure PS, PS/PE (3:1), and PS/PC (1:1) LUVs containing 1 mol % dansyl-PE are prepared and added to a 900 μL buffer solution (final phospholipid concentration of 45 μM). The effect of annexin on these vesicles is observed at different pH values by injecting 200 nM (0.18 nmol) protein into the calcium-free sample. The samples are excited at 340 nm, and the fluorescence emission is recorded from 400 to 600 nm (23). The calcium-dependent behaviour of surface hydrophobicity is observed after monitoring the effect of protein alone.

Liposome Leakage Assay.

Annexin-phospholipid interactions may cause the destabilization of phospholipid vesicles which results in leakage of the vesicle's interior. Vesicle leakage is monitored by the fluorescence quenching of 8-aminonaphthalene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (ANTS) in the presence of p-xylen-bis-pyridiniumbromid (DPX). The watersoluble fluorophore ANTS and its quencher DPX are added to the buffer solution while the vesicles are prepared. Excess ANTS/DPX buffer solution is removed by gel filtration using a Sephadex G-50 column. In the undisturbed vesicles, the fluorophore and quencher are spatially close so that DPX quenches the fluorescence of ANTS. With an increasing level of vesicle leakage, ANTS and DPX are diluted into the outer buffer solution, resulting in an increase in the fluorescence of ANTS (Ellens et al., Biochemistry 24, 3099-3106, 1985).

Assay for Peroxidase Activity of Annexin 1 (Gorecka et al. 2005).

Peroxidase activity of recombinant annexin1 proteins expressed in eukaryotic or prokaryotic systems may be tested with two methods. The first method is based on the chemiluminescence of oxidized luminal. Samples containing the proteins to be analyzed, separated by non-denaturating electrophoresis, are transferred onto a nitrocellulose membrane, covered with the developing solution (ECL kit, Amersham) containing luminol, and exposed to X-ray medical film for 1 hr according to the manufacturer's protocol. Alternatively, peroxidase activity of recombinant annexin1 proteins is determined using a fluorometric method with Amplex Red reagent (Molecular Probes) on a Fluorolog 3 spectrofluorimeter (Jobin Yvon Spex, Edison, N.J.) with 1-nm slits for both excitation and emission. The assay medium (total volume of 100 μl) contains 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, 2 mM H₂O₂, Amplex Red reagent at a final concentration of 100 μM. Measurements are made in quartz cuvettes of optical path length of 10 mm (0.1 ml volume). Fluorescence emission of the product of Amplex Red reagent oxidation, resorufin, is recorded at λ_(em) 590 nm (λ_(exc) 560 nm). For the determination of the effect of protein phosphorylation on peroxidase activity AnnAt1 is prior to measurements incubated with alkaline phosphatase (Sigma, 15 U/ml) at 36° C. for 10 min in a potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4. A sample without AnnAt1 is used as a control.

Example 20 Cloning of the Nucleic Acid Sequence Used in the Methods of the Invention

The nucleic acid sequence used in the methods of the invention was amplified by PCR using as template a custom-made Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings cDNA library (in pCMV Sport 6.0; Invitrogen, Paisley, UK). PCR was performed using Hifi Taq DNA polymerase in standard conditions, using 200 ng of template in a 50 μl PCR mix. The primers used were prm08727 (SEQ ID NO: 85; sense, start codon in bold): 5′-ggggacaagtttgtacaaaaaagcaggctta aacaatggcgactcttaaggtttct-3′ and prm09025 (SEQ ID NO: 86; reverse, complementary): 5′-ggggaccactttgtacaagaaagctgggtttaagcatcatcttcaccg ag-3′, which include the AttB sites for Gateway recombination. The amplified PCR fragment was purified also using standard methods. The first step of the Gateway procedure, the BP reaction, was then performed, during which the PCR fragment recombines in vivo with the pDONR201 plasmid to produce, according to the Gateway terminology, an “entry clone”, pANN. Plasmid pDONR201 was purchased from Invitrogen, as part of the Gateway® technology.

The entry clone comprising SEQ ID NO: 83 was then used in an LR reaction with a destination vector used for Oryza sativa transformation. This vector contained as functional elements within the T-DNA borders: a plant selectable marker; a screenable marker expression cassette; and a Gateway cassette intended for LR in vivo recombination with the nucleic acid sequence of interest already cloned in the entry clone. A rice expansin promoter (SEQ ID NO: 95) for green-tissue specific expression was located upstream of this Gateway cassette.

In alternative embodiment, a destination vector comprising the GOS2 promoter (SEQ ID NO: 94) was used resulting in the expression vector pGOS2::ANN.

After the LR recombination step, the resulting expression vector pEXP::ANN (FIG. 10) or pGOS2::ANN was transformed into Agrobacterium strain LBA4044 according to methods well known in the art.

Example 21 Plant Transformation

Transformation of rice plants was carried out according to the procedure outlined in Example 8 herein.

Example 22 Phenotypic Evaluation Procedure 22.1 Evaluation Setup

Approximately 35 independent T0 rice transformants were generated. The primary transformants were transferred from a tissue culture chamber to a greenhouse for growing and harvest of T1 seed. Six events, of which the T1 progeny segregated 3:1 for presence/absence of the transgene, were retained. For each of these events, approximately 10 T1 seedlings containing the transgene (hetero- and homo-zygotes) and approximately 10 T1 seedlings lacking the transgene (nullizygotes) were selected by monitoring visual marker expression. The transgenic plants and the corresponding nullizygotes were grown side-by-side at random positions. Greenhouse conditions were of shorts days (12 hours light), 28° C. in the light and 22° C. in the dark, and a relative humidity of 70%.

Four T1 events were further evaluated in the T2 generation following the same evaluation procedure as for the T1 generation but with more individuals per event. From the stage of sowing until the stage of maturity the plants were passed several times through a digital imaging cabinet. At each time point digital images (2048×1536 pixels, 16 million colours) were taken of each plant from at least 6 different angles.

Drought Screen

Plants from T2 seeds were grown in potting soil under normal conditions until they approached the heading stage. They were then transferred to a “dry” section where irrigation was withheld. Humidity probes were inserted in randomly chosen pots to monitor the soil water content (SWC). When SWC went below certain thresholds, the plants were automatically re-watered continuously until a normal level was reached again. The plants were then re-transferred again to normal conditions. The rest of the cultivation (plant maturation, seed harvest) was the same as for plants not grown under abiotic stress conditions. Growth and yield parameters are recorded as detailed for growth under normal conditions.

Nitrogen Use Efficiency Screen

Rice plants from T2 seeds are grown in potting soil under normal conditions except for the nutrient solution. The pots are watered from transplantation to maturation with a specific nutrient solution containing reduced N nitrogen (N) content, usually between 7 to 8 times less. The rest of the cultivation (plant maturation, seed harvest) is the same as for plants not grown under abiotic stress. Growth and yield parameters are recorded as detailed for growth under normal conditions.

22.2 Statistical Analysis: F Test

A two factor ANOVA (analysis of variants) was used as a statistical model for the overall evaluation of plant phenotypic characteristics. An F test was carried out on all the parameters measured of all the plants of all the events transformed with the gene of the present invention. The F test was carried out to check for an effect of the gene over all the transformation events and to verify for an overall effect of the gene, also known as a global gene effect. The threshold for significance for a true global gene effect was set at a 5% probability level for the F test. A significant F test value points to a gene effect, meaning that it is not only the mere presence or position of the gene that is causing the differences in phenotype.

Because two experiments with overlapping events were carried out, a combined analysis was performed. This is useful to check consistency of the effects over the two experiments, and if this is the case, to accumulate evidence from both experiments in order to increase confidence in the conclusion. The method used was a mixed-model approach that takes into account the multilevel structure of the data (i.e. experiment-event-segregants). P values were obtained by comparing likelihood ratio test to chi square distributions.

22.3 Parameters Measured Biomass-Related Parameter Measurement

From the stage of sowing until the stage of maturity the plants were passed several times through a digital imaging cabinet. At each time point digital images (2048×1536 pixels, 16 million colours) were taken of each plant from at least 6 different angles.

The plant aboveground area (or leafy biomass) was determined by counting the total number of pixels on the digital images from aboveground plant parts discriminated from the background. This value was averaged for the pictures taken on the same time point from the different angles and was converted to a physical surface value expressed in square mm by calibration. Experiments show that the aboveground plant area measured this way correlates with the biomass of plant parts above ground. The above ground area is the area measured at the time point at which the plant had reached its maximal leafy biomass.

Seed-Related Parameter Measurements

The mature primary panicles were harvested, counted, bagged, barcode-labelled and then dried for three days in an oven at 37° C. The panicles were then threshed and all the seeds were collected and counted. The filled husks were separated from the empty ones using an air-blowing device. The empty husks were discarded and the remaining fraction was counted again. The filled husks were weighed on an analytical balance. The number of filled seeds was determined by counting the number of filled husks that remained after the separation step. The total seed yield was measured by weighing all filled husks harvested from a plant. Total seed number per plant was measured by counting the number of husks harvested from a plant. Thousand Kernel Weight (TKW) is extrapolated from the number of filled seeds counted and their total weight. The Harvest Index (HI) in the present invention is defined as the ratio between the total seed yield and the above ground area (mm²), multiplied by a factor 10⁶. The total number of flowers per panicle as defined in the present invention is the ratio between the total number of seeds and the number of mature primary panicles. The seed fill rate as defined in the present invention is the proportion (expressed as a %) of the number of filled seeds over the total number of seeds (or florets).

Example 23 Results of the Phenotypic Evaluation of the Transgenic Plants

Evaluation of transgenic rice plants expressing an ANN nucleic acid operably linked to a constitutive promoter, grown under non-stress conditions revealed an increase of more than 5% was observed for total seed yield, number of filled seeds, fill rate, harvest index and more than 3% for TKW. Under drought stress conditions, an increase was observed for total seed yield, number of filled seeds and fill rate.

Plants expressing an ANN nucleic acid operably linked to a green-tissue specific promoter also exhibited an increased yield, in particular increased TKW.

Example 24 Examples of Transformation of Other Crops

Transformation of other crops is described in Example 12 hereinabove. 

1. A method for enhancing a yield-related trait in a plant relative to a control plant, comprising introducing and expressing in a plant, plant part, or plant cell a nucleic acid encoding an Annexin-like (ANN) polypeptide, wherein said ANN polypeptide comprises at least an annexin domain and one or more signature sequences of SEQ ID NO: 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92 and
 93. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid comprises: i) any one of the nucleic acids listed in Table B1; ii) a nucleotide sequence capable of hybridizing with any one of the nucleic acids listed in Table B1 under conditions comprising hybridization at 50° C. in 4×SSC or at 40° C. in 6×SSC and 50% formamide, followed by washing at 50° C. in 2×SSC; or iii) a nucleotide sequence encoding any one of the proteins listed in Table B1.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid comprises: i) the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 83; ii) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 84; or iii) a nucleotide sequence capable of hybridizing with the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 83 under conditions comprising hybridisation at 50° C. in 4×SSC or at 40° C. in 6×SSC and 50% formamide, followed by washing at 50° C. in 2×SSC.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the enhanced yield-related trait comprises increased yield and/or increased seed yield relative to a control plant.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the enhanced yield-related trait is obtained under non-stress conditions.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the enhanced yield-related trait is obtained under conditions of drought.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is operably linked to a constitutive promoter, a GOS2 promoter, or a GOS2 promoter from rice.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is operably linked to a green-tissue specific promoter, an expansin promoter, or an expansin promoter from rice.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein said nucleic acid is of plant origin, from a dicotyledonous plant, from a plant of the family Brassicaceae, from a plant of the genus Arabidopsis, or from an Arabidopsis thaliana plant.
 10. A plant obtained by the method of claim 1, or a plant part, seed, or progeny of said plant, wherein said plant, or said plant part, seed, or progeny, comprises a recombinant nucleic acid encoding said ANN polypeptide.
 11. A construct comprising: a) a nucleic acid sequence encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined in claim 1; b) one or more control sequences capable of driving expression of the nucleic acid sequence of a); and optionally c) a transcription termination sequence.
 12. The construct of claim 11, wherein one of the control sequences is a constitutive promoter, a GOS2 promoter, or a GOS2 promoter from rice.
 13. The construct of claim 11, wherein one of the control sequences is a green-tissue specific promoter, an expansin promoter, or an expansin promoter from rice.
 14. A method for making a plant having increased yield, increased biomass, and/or increased seed yield relative to a control plant, comprising transforming the construct of claim 11 into a plant, plant part, or plant cell.
 15. A plant, plant part, or plant cell comprising the construct of claim
 11. 16. A method for the production of a transgenic plant having increased yield and/or increased seed yield relative to a control plant, comprising: a) introducing and expressing in a plant a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined in claim 1; and b) cultivating the plant under conditions promoting plant growth and development.
 17. A transgenic plant having increased yield and/or increased seed yield relative to a control plant, resulting from increased expression of a nucleic acid encoding an ANN polypeptide as defined in claim 1, or a transgenic plant cell derived from said transgenic plant.
 18. The transgenic plant of claim 17, wherein said plant is a crop plant, a monocot, or a cereal, or wherein said plant is rice, maize, wheat, barley, millet, rye, triticale, sorghum, or oats.
 19. Harvestable parts of the transgenic plant of claim 17, wherein said harvestable parts are preferably seeds.
 20. Products derived from the transgenic plant of claim 17 or harvestable parts of said transgenic plant. 